Detecting Past Truths
by CanonAntithesis
Summary: Life didn't go as planned: no bball scholarship, no NBA career. 14 years later, Troy found his niche as a Private Investigator and his latest client is the world famous actress, Sharpay Evans. Penname changed from GimmeABeat to CanonAntithesis
1. Life as a PI

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

**Chapter 1: Life as a PI**

Disclaimer: The Mouse owns High School Musical and the characters within. I'm just borrowing them for awhile. I promise I'll put them back when I'm finished.

Summary: AU future fic. Things didn't go like he planned, no basketball scholarship, no career in the NBA. Now 14 years after high school, Troy Bolton has finally found his niche as a Private Investigator and his latest client is the world famous actress, Sharpay Evans.

Pairing: TroyPay, of course.

Time frame: Fourteen years after high school.

Troy Bolton slowly limped up the outside concrete staircase to his third floor office and for the hundredth time wondered why a man with a bum knee would even have a third floor office in the first place. He paused briefly to admire the hand lettered sign his mom made him when he opened up his own detective agency six months ago.

**Troy Bolton, Private Investigations**

He carefully sat the Styrofoam Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup down on the concrete floor and perched his half eaten donut on top of it. Then, he placed his bulging file folder down next to them before digging through his pockets for the key. When he finally found the key, Troy turned around and gasped at the absolute beauty he beheld. His building faced west and he had a perfect unobstructed view of the flat high desert stretching out before him. On a clear day like today, he could easily see past the Rio Grande and over the desert plains all the way to Mount Taylor, almost 100 miles away. Troy took a deep breath and realized for the hundredth time that _this_ was why a man with a bum knee had a third floor office. And he also remembered something he'd read about the renowned artist Georgia O'Keeffe who so loved New Mexico that she referred to the Land of Enchantment as "the faraway" because you could see forever.

Brnng ... brnng.

Troy was startled from his revelry by the harsh sound of his office telephone. In his rush to get the door unlocked, he kicked over his coffee, spilling its contents all over the manila folder.

"Damn", he muttered as he left the mess to clean up later and he hobbled over to the desk to answer the phone.

"Yeah, talk to me", Troy said into the receiver.

"_Man, the way you answer the phone is so high school. Don't you think you should get some new material?"_, came a very familiar voice through the receiver of the old black corded phone.

"Chad...", Troy sighed as he leaned back against his desk, a smile automatically coming to his lips when he heard his best friend's voice. "What's up, buddy?"

"_I'm just confirming our stakeout for tonight."_

"Oh, yeah. Well, I hope you're not getting your hopes up to just have them busted. It's not all that exciting; in fact, it's incredibly boring."

"_Good, because that's exacting what I'm looking for."_

"Uh?"

"_My angle for this story is jobs that we think are exciting, but which are actually really quite boring -- like firemen, police officers, security guards, and PI's, although they can have moments of complete and absolute excitement, bordering on terror. Well, except for PI's... I think they're probably boring all the time."_

"Gosh, Chad", Troy said sarcastically, "thanks a lot."

"_So we're still on for 9:00 p.m.?"_

"Yeah, I'll come pick you up and remember to bring lots of caffeine."

Troy returned the phone to its cradle and started to head around to the opposite side of the desk when he remembered the mess he left outside. However, before he could even turn around, he heard a tsking sound coming from the door.

"I do hope this isn't an example of your work", an effeminate male voice said.

Troy looked up to see a short blond man, about his own age, holding Troy's coffee sodden folder in his hand with a look of apathy on his face. The man wore pink Crocs, Kelly green shorts, a pink floral Hawaiian shirt and a white Panama hat decorated with a matching pink floral band. He was staring at Troy from over the top of his sequined bedazzled sunglasses. He looked Troy up and down, studying him and didn't seem to like what he saw.

Troy straightened his rumpled clothes self-consciously, hoping this guy wasn't about to make a pass at him. Realizing what the man held in his hand, Troy offered his hand out for the wet papers.

"Oh, here, let me take that."

He took them and grabbed a handful of tissues from his desk to try and blot out the mess. His blond visitor stood silently at the door holding his own wet hand out like it was something he truly wished he could throw in the trash.

"Um, all I have are some Kleenex", Troy mumbled while offering him the box.

The man begrudgingly accepted and then, vigorously started to wipe his hands.

"Do you have any hand sanitizer?", he asked with a lazy drawl.

"Sorry, no."

There's an awkward silence for a few seconds before Troy finally asked, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I'm starting to seriously doubt it. However, I _do_ have an appointment with you this morning. Have you forgotten already?" He walked completely into the room, letting the door close behind him.

"Ryan Edwards?", Troy asked in amazement as he motioned for his new client to take a seat.

"That's me." Ryan sat gingerly on the edge of the worn faux leather straight chair, trying to make as little contact with the seat as possible.

"Man...", Troy fumbled with what to say to his former high school classmate. "You've ... well, changed, man." Then, he seemed to take stock of himself and stepped up to offer the man his hand which was accepted with a distinctly limp wrist. Troy settled back against his desk and continued. "I mean I remember you from school, of course, but..."

"You don't remember me as being quite so gay, right?"

Troy exhaled gratefully. "Yeah, that's it. I mean, you were the star pitcher of the baseball team. You guys went to the state championships the same year that we did on the basketball team. Gosh, I had no idea. I mean", Troy awkwardly brushed his finger through his brown locks. "... not that I'd have any problem with that, of course. You know, 'live and let live', but still..."

Ryan leaned forward in the seat as if about to share a confidence. "To tell you the truth, Troy, the only reason I joined the baseball team was because of the team showers, if you know what I mean." He added a sly wink at the end of his sentence.

Troy paled suddenly and gratefully remembered that basketball and baseball were played during different times of the year. He jumped up and hurried to the other side of his desk and started sorting through his notes in an effort to distance himself from this uncomfortable conversation.

"Soooo, in your phone call you said you wanted to hire me to find someone for you. And I explained my rates, right?

"Yes, here's your retainer."

Troy accepted the proffered envelop and quickly glanced inside and immediately his eyes bugged out. "Wow, this is, like, three times my normal fee."

"That's because I expect three times your normal speed and efficiency. I need you to find my sister, Sarah", Ryan replied succinctly.

Troy looked up in surprise. This day seemed to be full of them. "I never knew you had a sister."

"Yeah, we're twins, but I'm not surprised. She was very shy. Most people didn't notice her."

"Okay, well, how long has it been since you saw her last?"

"I haven't seen Sarah in about thirteen years, since about a year after high school."

"Wow, that's going to make it more difficult. What were the circumstances to your estrangement?"

"That's a personal matter and I'd prefer to not answer it."

Another sigh. "Okaaay, do you by any chance have her social security number?"

Ryan didn't bother to answer. He just raised his eyebrow in a 'you've got to be kidding' gesture.

"You're not giving me much to work with, here, _Ryan_."

"That's why I'm paying you so much money, _Troy_, remember?" He looked down at his watch and stood. Then, looking Troy in the eye, said, "I gotta get going and I expect to see some results in one week." Ryan walked to the door and with his hand on the handle turned back to Troy and said with a wink, "Bye, ... cutie", and as a final gesture, blew him an air kiss before disappearing through the door.

Troy swallowed hard and looked warily at the large stack of cash his newest client left for him. Then, his eyes shifted over to that folder of wet papers and he let out a loud groan. His final report on Mrs. Reynold's "conniving, cheating, scum-bag of a husband" was going to have to be reprinted and the file was on his home computer. Mrs. Reynolds was due in 30 minutes. Ugh, one of these days, he'd make enough money to afford a laptop.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Oh my Gawd!", Chad shouted in his very best valley girl falsetto as he leaned back into the passenger seat of Troy's aging Toyota. "Ryan Edwards was gay?! And here I thought it was the football players you had to worry about... what with all that butt pattin' an' stuff."

"Very funny! So anyway, I'm supposed to find his missing sister, Sarah", Troy said as he took a large bite out of his hoagie and tried to continue his story.

They were sitting outside a very sleazy looking motel near the corner of Broadway and Coal in south west Albuquerque. They were parked under a blinking neon light which was just starting to give Troy a headache, but a job's a job.

"Ryan had a sister? Younger or older?" Chad asked as his absentmindedly reached under the patch covering his left eye and gave it a healthy scratch.

"Apparently, they're twins and would you, please, stop doing that scratching thing. That's nasty, man. I can't believe Taylor lets you get away with that."

"Well, it itches and she obviously loves me more than you do." He made a show of putting his hands on his lap.

"Well, I hope so ... since I'm not the one having your baby and would you, please, stop wearing those stupid shirts around me, too."

With an offended look on his face, Chad caught the hem of his graphic t-shirt and straightened it out to show the design. It read, _**Without Me, There Would Be No Bun In Her Oven.**_

"Oh no, man. I absolutely refuse to do that. Tay and I have been married for eight years now and it took us five years to get pregnant, so I'm planning on letting everybody know."

"I'm afraid to even ask how many different shirts you have."

"Be afraid, be very afraid", Chad replied with an extremely unserious look on his face.

"Okay, so I looked her up in the yearbook and check this picture." Troy handed Chad the East High School Wildcats 2009 yearbook. "There she is right next to Ryan."

Chad studied the photograph of a nondescript brown haired girl wearing thick tortoise shell glasses and very little makeup. Then, he exclaimed, "No way, I have never seen this girl before in my entire life. I can't believe she went to school with us."

"Yeah, me either. It says she was in the drama club, the co-president with Ryan, in fact."

"Well, that makes sense. I mean with him being gay and all."

"Will you lay off the whole gay thing? I'm sorry I said anything. You know, I didn't even know Ryan was in drama. I don't think I saw a single play and musical or anything the whole time I was there." Troy kept talking to Chad, but without taking his eyes off of room 212, waiting for the wayward Mrs. Reyes to make her appearance.

"I'm with you there, dude. That Ms. Darbus gave me the willies." Chad started to reach under his patch again and then, quickly pulled his hand away and mumbled, "Sorry."

"It's okay; if it bothers you that much, go ahead and scratch. You have to slow down when you walk with me, so it's the least I can do. Besides an eye patch is way cooler than a gimpy leg, especially with Pirates of the Caribbean 8 coming out next summer."

"Well, you know...", Chad started as he tried stretched out his legs in the small car before giving up. "I have to agree with you. I do look pretty damn hot with this thing on."

"Don't get carried away, man. After all, you did have to cut those long gorgeous locks of yours to accommodate that string."

"Aaah, that retro 'fro was practically turn of the century and 'string-head' is much worse than 'hat-head'", Chad commented while patting his closely cropped haircut.

"Sooo, I was wondering if Chad, the great god of LexisNexis, could help me out?", Troy asked with as much pity in his voice as he could muster.

LexisNexis is a paid subscription based Internet search engine which no six month old PI could ever hope to afford. However, since Chad works for the Albuquerque Journal, he has access to the newspaper's business subscription of the 'world's largest collection of public records, unpublished opinions, forms, legal, news, and business information'.

"Troy... you know I'm not supposed to use it for personal stuff", Chad said reluctantly.

"Just say it's research for a story."

"I'm the sports reporter, Troy. How can I justify researching some high school drama queen from over ten years ago?"

"What about this PI story you're working on?"

"I'm only doing that on my own time. When I'm done, I'll approach my editor and see if I can sell him on the story." He took a deep breath and gazed out the dirty car window. "God, I am so tired of covering high school sports. If I have to watch one more crappy JV game, I don't know what I'll do."

"But what about all your adoring fans, my man?", Troy asked lightheartedly.

"My adoring fans are all old, like me. No one even knows who I am anymore, Troy." He paused a bit before continuing. "You know, though, that's actually a good thing, a very good thing. I was just about sick of all the, _Oh you're one of the East High Tragic Three, aren't you? _And, _Damn man, I saw you play before you lost that eye, you could have gone all the way. _And of course, my favorite, _Do you ever feel guilty about that guy who died since you were driving the car?_" Chad changed his inflection slightly with each quote to distinguish them from each other."Oh yeah", Chad sighed, "that one's definitely my favorite."

Troy studied his life long friend's face for a long time before replying. "It could have been any of us at the wheel that night, Chad. We were young, stupid and immortal, remember?"

"Yeah", Chad said with a bitter chuckle, "immortal... except for Zeke."

They were silent for a long time after that, each of them remembering that fateful night. They were planning on meeting Taylor and Gabriella at the dance since Troy, Chad and Zeke all made it to the state All-Star team and it was poorly scheduled on the same day as the senior prom. The All-Star game was played in Carlsbad, about five hours south of Albuquerque. Then, after the early afternoon game, they showered, changed directly into their tuxedos, and hit the road. Chad's radio was broken, so they had no way of knowing they were driving directly into the path of one of the largest wind storms to ever hit New Mexico. Winds of 70 miles per hours pummeled the little car and swatted it off the road like a gnat.

The resulting crash left Troy's right knee a mangled mess of ligament, crushed cartilage and ruined dreams. Despite three arthroscopic surgeries, his basketball future and his hard-won scholarship to the University of Albuquerque was lost. Chad faced similar bad news. A shard of windshield pierced his left eye and ended his NBA career before it even had a chance to start.

However, Zeke, their unobtrusive teammate and friend, faced the worst fate of all. Chad and Troy had known the shy, quiet boy since middle school and loved him like a little brother. Even though he was the same age as them, he always seemed more innocent and naive and they always felt like they should protect him. He was an eclectic mix of interests. Ezekiel Baylor was a tall, lanky African American with a talent for basketball and passion for cooking. He continually baked delicious pastries for the team, to such an extent that Coach Bolton, Troy's father and their basketball coach, finally had to put a moratorium on the activity. The team was simply putting on too much weight.

Zeke died on that lonely stretch of highway half way to home and safety. Troy and Chad didn't do such a great job of protecting their little brother and they've lived with the guilt since that fateful prom night almost fourteen years ago.

"Hey, isn't that her?", Chad shattered the silence by exclaiming excitedly and pointing vigorously towards the hotel.

For an instant, Troy actually thought he was talking about Sarah Edwards. Then, he quickly realized that his client's cheating spouse was making her exit from the rent-by-the-hour motel. Troy quickly grabbed his Nikon D700 digital camera with a 4.3 times telephoto zoom lens and started clicking away. Mrs. Reyes was followed from the room by a dark skinned Hispanic man wearing a red silk shirt and dark sunglasses on this moonless night.

"Dude, he looks like a male skank. It's just pitiful when a brother has to sell himself like that, you know?"

Troy stopped the rapid firing of his camera to look at his friend in disbelief. "Gee, Chad, I guess you really have grown-up after all."

"Look at that!", Chad pointed back to the clandestine couple and saw that they had made it to the woman's car. As they locked in a heated embrace, they also saw the man-ho reach behind Mrs. Reyes' back and help himself to her wallet by lifting it very skillfully out of her purse. "Are you getting all this?", Chad asked excitedly.

"I'm getting' it; I'm getting' it."

"I guess it serves her right for cheatin' on her man", Chad said with some satisfaction.

Five minutes after they couple departed in separate cars, Chad turned to his best friend, "You know this really was fun and for a few brief seconds it was actually exciting. Thanks, man."

"You're welcome, Chad", Troy replied as he put the car into gear and pulled out of the lot.

"And hey, I was kidding about the Lexis thing. I'll get right on it in the morning. Just give me a call about nine."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

"_Oh my Gawd! You won't believe what I found out!_"

Troy pulled the receiver away from his ear and winced in pain. Then, after studying the phone cautiously, he put it back to his ear when it seemed like Chad was waiting for a response.

"Let me guess. Sarah Edwards is gay too", Troy said sardonically.

"_What?_", he snapped. "_Oh, very funny and no, that's not it. It's much better than that._"

**TBC**

Okay, guys here's my new one and I know, I know, I promised to work on Why?, but I just don't have the motivation for that one right now.

Anyway, I'm really trying to develop this one more. More descriptions, more character development, etc, etc. Trying to make it a "real" story.

Hope you like. Please let me know.

Oh and there are 2 educational things in this one.

1st is Georgia O'Keeffe. She's like a god in New Mexico.

2nd is LexisNexis. Here's some more stuff I got from Wiki. Typical customers of LexisNexis include lawyers, law students, journalists, and academics. "It's how you know" was the primary slogan for LexisNexis for over a decade.


	2. The Real Client

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

_Previously..._

"_Let me guess. Sarah Edwards is gay too", Troy said sardonically._

"_What?", he snapped. "Oh, very funny and no, that's not it. It's much better than that."_

**Chapter 2: The Real Client**

Troy still couldn't believe what Chad had told him just one hour ago. However, here he was, standing at the gates of the most imposing home he had ever seen in his life. No, that's wrong; it was more like a fortress than a home. Nestled into the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, the contemporary southwestern architecture seemed to blend perfectly with its surroundings. The red earthen colored stucco structure with its sloped tiled roof seemed to grow out of the rock rather than been built by human hands. Even from a quarter of a mile away, he could see the large, floor to ceiling windows which faced west and looked out over the city of Albuquerque. Those windows must be at least twenty feet high. Troy hadn't even known a house like this existed here.

After taking a deep cleansing breath, he anxiously punched the button on the intercom and waited for a reply. After hearing a muffled voice which he couldn't make out, Troy said, "Uh hi, my name is Troy Bol..."

The lock on the gate released noiselessly and began to automatically open. Troy raised an eyebrow in surprise and then, quickly hopped back in his car and drove through the wrought-iron gates and up towards the massive structure. He stopped his car at the over-sized double doors and skipped up to the entrance. He lifted the large brass knocker and could hear the sound echoing loudly throughout the inside of the home. Then, he heard the locks on the door turn and Troy stepped back automatically to wait impatiently for it to open.

And then, suddenly, there she was, Sharpay Evans. Troy would have known her anywhere. Heck, all he had to do was walk into a grocery store to see her face plastered across every gossip rag in the country. He'd even downloaded her latest CD though he'd never admit it to anyone. In addition, he just watched her latest movie on iVids last night before he found out who she really was. And before he realized what a big, dark secret this must be for her. Therefore, you can imagine his surprise to hear her first words to him.

"Took you long enough."

She followed that by fully opening the door and gesturing with an elegant sweep of her bronzed arm for him to enter. Troy followed mutely into the huge foyer, studying her the whole time and telling himself that it was for professional reasons. Ms. Evans had long, lustrous, blond hair which cascaded half way down her back and she wore a silver jewel encrusted hair barrette in the center of the back of her head. She wore a bright red halter top which ended just above the waistband of her pants, giving just a glimpse of her golden skin beneath. On her legs were tight, thigh hugging golden capris, which Troy heard had recently come back in style. He wasn't aware that they ever weren't in style. The calf-length pants accentuated her well-toned legs along with the spiked Manolo Blaniks which adorned her tiny feet. Troy was no expert on women's footwear, but they looked like about a size five to him.

"What do you mean, _took you long enough_?", Troy asked as they sat together in the small sitting room off the main entrance hall. The butler had just brought them a tray of tea and Sharpay was pouring Troy's for him.

"That was a joke. I mean, Ryan only hired you, what, yesterday?" She handed him a delicate little cup and saucer which probably cost more than Troy's entire set of Corelle dish wear. It was so small in his large hands that it looked like he was playing with a child's tea set.

"You know that Ryan is trying to find you?", Troy asked incredulously.

She laughed at that statement -- a light tingling of a laugh which made Troy's heart skip a half beat. It was beautiful; it was intoxicating and so was she.

"Ryan isn't trying to find me; he's just helping me out by finding the right PI for my real search. I wanted an honest investigator -- not someone who'd take the job only because of who I am", Sharpay explained as she took a sip from her cup of Earl Grey. "You're the third detective he's hired and the first to actually find me. The first did nothing -- took the money and disappeared; the second looked for three months -- kept coming back for more money and reports that he was closing in on Sarah. Then, Ryan heard that an old classmate of ours was now a licensed private detective and voilà, here you are."

"I still can't believe that we went to high school together. I'm sorry, but I don't even remember you", Troy said politely.

For an instant, Troy thought he saw a flash of pain cross her face before it quickly disappeared, replaced by a small smile.

"Well, it's not like we traveled in the same circles -- you know that strict status quo that high school imposed on everyone", Sharpay explained quietly.

"Oh yeah, I remember that well." Troy remembered how difficult it had been for him to even date someone who wasn't a cheerleader. When he first met his high school girlfriend, Gabriella Montez, he felt like the whole world was against him and now, fourteen years later, it all seemed so trivial. He and Gabi had started to slowly drift apart after high school. He'd spent almost a year at the UCLA Medical Center undergoing surgery after surgery and then, physical therapy session after session and she'd gone to the University of Albuquerque and surprisingly found her calling in social work. Gabriella met her soul mate while doing volunteer work with a children's clinic in southeast Albuquerque and they were married within the year. Ironically, Troy couldn't seem to muster any grief over the lose of the relationship. He was happy for her. When Troy last heard, she was still living in Albuquerque and was one of the leading advocates for children's rights in the city. He hadn't seen her in years. They simply didn't travel in the same circles.

That thought brought him back to the present and he looked up into Sharpay's concerned face. He quickly realized that she must have said something and was waiting for a reply.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Guess I drifted for a minute."

"That's okay. I asked you if you were ready to hear about why I really want to hire you."

"Oh, absolutely. I'm up for any challenge, but I really hope it's not your cheating husband." Troy relaxed back into the leather seat.

Sharpay, who was just in the middle of a sip of tea, started choking on her drink. After she regained her control and fended off Troy's offer of help, she was finally able to say, "My what?"

"Oh, I didn't mean that you actually have a cheating husband", Troy said rapidly, trying to dig himself out of his self-dug hole. "It's just... that seems to be why most of my clients hire me and I'm a little tired of it."

Sharpay relaxed and said, "Don't worry. It's nothing like that. I've never been married and I only date casually. I find it's easier to avoid emotional entanglements."

_Sounds lonely_, thought Troy. _Kinda of like my life._

"Okay, here it is", Sharpay started as she rose and began to pace back and forth across the room. "As you obviously know, I had my name legally changed from Sarah Edwards to Sharpay Evans when I was 19, about eight months after high school graduation. I needed a new start. I had recently had a huge break up with my parents and I was ready to move on. Ryan is the only one I've kept in touch with from my old life. He's the only one who offered me any support back then. Anyway... God, this is harder than I thought. I need you to find someone for me." She stopped and looked him straight in the eye. "I need your help in finding my daughter."

"Your daughter?", Troy asked, slightly taken aback. "I didn't know you had a child."

"No one does. Well, Ryan knows, of course. And my parents, but that's another story. Let me explain." She sat back down on the sofa and appeared to be trying to gather her thoughts -- perhaps trying to determine where to start or how much to reveal, thought Troy.

"I put my baby up for adoption when she was born." Troy's eyes widened. He wasn't expecting that. She started to twist her rings methodically on her fingers. On her right hand, she was wearing a large emerald on her index finger and ruby surrounded by tiny sapphires on her ring finger. Her pinkie held a silver and onyx geometric design. Her left hand was curiously bare with the exception of a small silver band on her ring finger. It had two small hearts entwined together and appeared to be very inexpensive. The ring struck a cord deep in Troy's memory, but he just couldn't quite piece it together. It would come to him eventually; he decided.

"I-I was on my own. My parents kicked me out when I refused to get an abortion. I couldn't kill my baby, but by the same token, I wasn't really equipped to raise her either. So I went to an adoption agency in Albuquerque and made the arrangements for a closed adoption."

Troy sat his teacup down and looked at her sternly. He didn't like where this was going and he decided to tell her.

"So what, now that you're rich and famous you're just going to come back into her life and take her away from the people who raised her? Because I don't want anything to do with something like that."

Sharpay looked genuinely shocked.

"Of course not. I would never do anything like that. It's just, well, I'm at a point in my life where I have the time and resources to find her. And, ..., and I just want to know that she's okay ... that she's happy." Her voice was becoming thick with emotion and she had to pause briefly to clear her throat. When she continued, it was barely above a whisper. "... I need to know that I did the right thing when I gave her up. Please ... help me, Troy."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

The bottle of beer was swaying dangerously. "Her daughter?", Chad exclaimed while trying to stop his beer bottle from toppling over.

Taylor reached over a steady hand and caught it for him.

"Sharpay Evans has a daughter?", Taylor asked curiously. She let go of Chad's beer and went back to pulling her sticky sopapilla apart with her fingers. She'd just come to terms with what Chad told her earlier about how Sharpay Evans was really Sarah Edwards, a girl they all went to school with, but whom no one remembered.

Troy, Taylor and Chad were sitting at a table in the outside patio of the Church Street Cafe in the heart of historic Old Town Albuquerque. This popular lunch site was housed in an historic building which dated back of the founding of the town in the early 1700's. Where they were located, near the bubbling fountain in the center of the outside seating area, they were unlikely to be overheard.

"Yeah. It's unbelievable, isn't it?", Troy reached over and dipped a tortilla chip into the salsa bowl sitting in the middle of the table. "Man, I love this salsa."

"Oh yeah, dude", Chad agreed. "It really clears out your..."

"Chad!", Taylor chastised her husband, sharply.

"What? I was just going to say sinuses. It really clears out your sinuses. What did you think I was going to say?" Chad took a large scoop of salsa and seconds after it hit his tongue, he started choking on the fiery condiment. He quickly followed this with a large swig of his Dos Equis to squelch the burning.

"You two are like little kids. Do you ever listen to yourselves? It's like you're still back in high school -- every other word is 'dude' and 'man'. It's really disturbing. No one talks like that anymore. And Chad only talks like that when he's around you, Troy."

"Well, at least my taste in clothing has grown up", Troy comments while pointing to Chad's t-shirt for today: _**My Boys Can Swim!**_ It was decorated with little sperm swimming all over it. Chad just smiled. This shirt was his current favorite.

"Anyway", Taylor said in exasperation. "Tell me more about this case."

"Okay, but don't discuss this with anyone else, right?" Taylor did a quick little X across her heart and nodded enthusiastically. Chad did an elaborate pantomime routine by silently putting his index and thumb together and pulling them across his lips, zipping them shut. Then, he turned an invisible key to lock his lips and finally, with the invisible key in one hand, took his other hand and pulled Taylor's blouse out and drop the invisible key into her bra. She, of course, exclaimed loudly and swatted his hands away from her.

"Yeah, man. We won't talk. So what's she like, anyway?", Chad asked while dramatically rubbing his arm where Taylor had hit him.

"She's nice -- like a real person. Seriously, guys. She wasn't what I expected. I thought she'd be all snooty and stuck up, but she wasn't. She just seemed really focused on finding her daughter."

"So, is this a kidnapping or something?", Chad questioned.

"Oh no, nothing like that. Her daughter is 13 years old; she had her right after high school and she gave her up for adoption when she was born. I'm still trying to deal with that bit of info."

"Uh?", Chad asked.

Troy's face became uncharacteristically dark as he forced out his next words. "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time. I'm just saying she shouldn't been having sex if she wasn't willing to face the consequences. I mean I know it could have happened to any of us, you know. But still..."

"Not us. We waited until we were married", Chad finished and sat back with a smug look on his face.

"You're kidding", Troy said in total disbelief.

"No, we're serious", Taylor provided, seriously. "We went to the same church and we signed a chastity contract with our youth minister."

"Wow, that's amazing. I had no idea."

"So, does that mean that you and Gabriella...", Chad started and then, stopped, looking pointedly at Troy.

"Well, um, ... yeah", Troy flushed, despite himself. "I think most of us were doing it, Chad. But if Gabi had gotten pregnant, I would have done the right thing and we'd have raised our child together. You two are going to be parents soon. You must agree with me, right?"

"Actually, I have to disagreed with you on this one, Troy", Taylor said, pointedly. She stopped and went back to her honey sweet confection which she had started to shred into little pieces with her fingers. Without looking up, she continued, "If it weren't for mothers like her, Chad and I probably would have never met."

"You mean...?", Troy started as he began to understand what she was saying.

"Yeah, I was adopted", Taylor said quietly.

"Really? I can't believe you said never anything before", Troy said. "How long have we known each other and you never told me?"

"It just never came up", Taylor said lamely.

"I had no idea. Did you ever try to find your birth parents?", Troy asked, hoping she could help him understand the search process.

"Yeah, I tried to find my mom; I'm still trying, in fact. I did find a half sister, though. Seems like she's trying to find our mother too. We haven't found her yet, but we found each other."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool; we met her last Christmas", Chad provided. "She lives in Boulder and is a graduate student at CU. Guess that big brain runs in the family", Chad said with a smile. "So what's your first step in looking for this kid? Need me to do any research?", he asked seriously. He knew how much it meant to Taylor to find her birth mother and he really wanted to do what he could to help.

"I'm not sure where to start, but Sharpay's already taken the first step. We're going to a meeting of a support group for adoptees. It's something she was planning on before I found her. The meeting is tomorrow night. We'll see if they can help. Then, I'll start researching the agency that handled the adoption."

Taylor looked skeptical, but didn't say anything. Just then, the waitress arrived with their meal and the guys dug into the delicious southwestern food with gusto, forgetting for the moment about anything else.

**TBC**

I noticed that I misspelled Dunkin' Donuts in chapter 1, so I went back and fixed it. I only noticed it because of troypazash's review. She spelled it correctly and that's when I realized my mistake. Then, before I could get it fixed, Coasttocoast also caught it. I am soooo embarrassed.

And then, a goofy thought occurred to me. If my last name was Duncan and I opened a donut shop and called it, Duncan Donuts, would Dunkin' Donuts sue me. Would they win?

I am horrible at describing clothing, so you'll have to bear with me while I learn how to do it. The outfit Sharpay is wearing is from HSM 2 -- what she wore during "What Time Is It?", except I gave her higher heels.

The part about Taylor finding her half sister when she was searching for her birth mother actually happened to a friend of mine. She actually found two half-sisters. They were full sisters to each other and their mom had them after they had her and then, she abandoned her family. They knew she had given up a baby for adoption before she had them and they all found each other through an Internet site for adoptees.

I'm so glad Chad is a good guy in this one. I really don't like writing him bad.


	3. The Beginning of the Search

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

_Previously..._

"_I'm not sure where to start, but Sharpay's already taken the first step. We're going to a meeting of a support group for adoptees. It's something she was planning on before I found her. The meeting is tomorrow night. We'll see if they can help. Then, I'll start researching the agency that handled the adoption."_

**Chapter 3: The Beginning of the Search**

Troy stood in front of his small house which was located about two miles from his parent's house. He enjoyed being close to them -- Mom's homecooking and pickup games with Dad. He looked down to check his watch just as he heard the sound of a car screeching around the corner. The bright yellow BMW convertible coupe came squealing to a halt in front of him and Sharpay Evans lowered her sunglasses and told him to hop in.

Her appearance was very different from yesterday. Today she had her hair pulled back into a messy pony tail and was wearing a brightly colored kerchief around it because of the wind created by having the convertible's top down. She was wearing a modest white blouse, conservative pair of black slacks and fashionable, yet low-heeled slung-back sandals. However, the most startling change in her appearance was her make-up. Gone was the professionally applied, air-brushed, cover-girl looking make-up. Instead she was wearing a light foundation, blush, and peach colored lip stick. Troy didn't think she was wearing any eye make-up at all. And surprisingly, rather than making her look washed out and plain, she appeared fresh faced and much younger than she'd looked yesterday.

Sharpay noticed how he was studying her as she sped quickly through the residential streets on her way to the interstate.

"What's so interesting, Bolton?"

"Sorry", he apologized automatically. "You just look so different today, is all."

"When you arrived yesterday, I had just finished a video interview with People magazine. I don't normally look like that in my everyday life. Disappointed?", Sharpay explained as she smoothly shifted gears and pulled in front of a large truck on I-40.

"Oh no", Troy replied, quickly. "In fact, I think you look even more beautiful today. More natural, you know? Oh God", he cringed when he heard what he just said, "Did that sound as stupid as I think it did?"

"No, not at all. I think it's really sweet. I hate wearing all that make-up and plus when I'm dressed like this, I'm not likely to be recognized. I'm not even in Albuquerque, you know. I'm actually in Switzerland having some work done."

"Uh?"

"I'm on a sabbatical, or at least, a Hollywood version of a sabbatical. That means I'm in Switzerland being lifted and tucked and enhanced. Which is really absurd since I've never had anything done."

Troy closed his eyes as she nearly side-swiped a Hummer H6, which was about the size of bicycle, and replied, sarcastically, "Oh, really?"

She looked over at him and, when she saw that she couldn't intimidate him with her glare because his eyes were screwed shut, decided to fess up.

"Well, okay ... everyone dyes their hair, so that doesn't count and so maybe I've had a little work done, but I swear it was a deviated septum and despite all the rumors, my breasts are absolutely mine. Trust me, if I had anything done, I'd look better than this", she waved her hand back and forth over her chest.

Now that made Troy open his eyes. "I think you look just fine. My friend, Chad, always says anything bigger than a handful is just wasted, anyway."

Sharpay's eyes widened as she looked over at Troy. He was equally shocked at what he said and turned to look at her in horror. Troy had no earthly idea why he picked this moment to start spouting Chad quotations. Luckily, Troy looked away first and shouted a warning just in time for Sharpay to slam on the brakes to avoid rear-ending the car in front of them. She came to a complete stop sideways in the middle of I-40. Luckily, there was no one behind her and, with a shaking hand, shifted the car into first gear.

They drove the rest of the way in silence ... and well below the speed limit.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

The adoptee support group, Help Yourself, met in the basement of the First Baptist Church. Daphne Roberts greeted them when they entered and they sat down in a circle of chairs, ala an AA meeting. Most of the people in the room were women and Troy felt slightly out of place, but it was definitely better than sitting in front of a rent-by-the-hour motel waiting for cheating spouses.

A couple of the women discussed their searches for their parents. The other women offered helpful suggestions when their fellow adoptees came to dead-ends. Then, it was Sharpay's turn.

She sat up a little straighter in her chair and started. "Hi, my name is Sarah Edwards." She and Troy had discussed it and decided that she should use your original name. After all, that was her name when she had her baby. "My search is a little different from the rest of you. You see, I _am_ the birth mother and I'm looking for my daughter."

There were a few nods around the circle to indicate that she wasn't the first birth mother to attend this meeting.

"You don't look very old, Sarah. How old is your daughter?", Daphne asked.

"She would be 13, now."

"Was it a completely closed adoption?"

"Yes."

Daphne had a worried look on her face. "Do you know anything at all about the adoptive parents? Did you meet them at all?"

"No, it was all handled through the agency, The Right Choice Family Center."

Several groans erupted from the circle.

"What? Is there some problem with them?", Troy asked as he straightened his leg out to find a more comfortable position.

"Well, they participated in some questionable practices. The state launched an investigation into those practices, oh, about twelve years ago now, I think. The management of the place just up and left town. They shut down completely. Employees came to work one day and the offices were just closed", offered Bruce, the only other man in the room.

"Questionable practices? What questionable practices?", Sharpay asked nervously.

"Oh, don't worry, Sarah. Their adoption services are never in question. But they also offered services as a woman's clinic. You may have received your prenatal care there." At Sharpay's nod, she continued, "In connection with those clinical services, they purportedly offered abortion services, but when girls actually came in for those services, they pressured them into either keeping the child or offering it up for adoption. That kind of tacit is illegal. Did that happen to you?"

"No, I never even considered abortion. And besides, by the time, I went to them, I was too far gone for that, anyway", Sharpay told as she sighed in relief. She was worry for a second that something might have been wrong with the adoption. "Wait, I did know one thing about the adoptive couple. The agency told me they were upper class, that the wife was going to be a stay-at-home mom and the husband was a doctor. Does that help?"

Sad chuckles erupted throughout the circle.

"I'm so sorry, Sarah", Daphne explained, sympathetically. "That's what they say to everyone. And we have even more bad news. Since your daughter is only 13 and still a minor, you're going to have to wait for her to find you. The adoption system is set up to protect the adoptee. When she turns 18, she can start looking for you and she may put her name on one of the many websites created for just that purpose. In the meantime, you can put your name on those sites as a birth mother, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until she contacts you."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Troy and Sharpay sat in a small coffee shop and Sharpay was staring forlornly into the dark depths of her white mug.

"Hey, I know it's not Starbucks, but it's not that bad", Troy said in an effort to pull her out of her slump.

She was so distraught when they left the church that she actually allowed him to drive her car. He took them to the closest hole in the wall café he could find and they quickly sat down in a darkened corner of the already darkened shop. It was decorated like a sixties beatnik coffee house, but without the ambiance.

"I hate Starbucks", Sharpay sighed. "It's all hype. I actually prefer Dunkin' Donuts coffee."

"Really? Me, too. I stop by there every morning for a cup of coffee and a donut. That's only after swimming 20 laps at the Y, of course."

She smiled a little and took a small sip from her mug. Still clutching onto the mug with both hands, she finally asked what Troy wanted to avoid since leaving the meeting.

"What do we do now, Troy?"

He looked her squarely in the eye, trying to look as confident as he could. "Well... I have some ideas. A friend of mine, Taylor Danforth, is a prosecutor for the state of New Mexico. If the state was investigating this agency, then maybe she can help us find out more information about them. At least, it's somewhere to start. It's not a complete dead end; I promise." He offered her a small smile and she, surprisingly, reached over and took his hand in hers.

"I know and thank you so much for helping me."

They sat silently for a few minutes, sipping their coffee until Sharpay broke the silence by commenting, "I'm sorry about what happened to you." Troy looked up in confusion, so she clarified. "You know, your accident and all. I know you had big plans for college and I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"How'd you know about my plans for college?", Troy asked curiously.

Sharpay pulled her hand away from him and looked away nervously before replying, "W-well, everyone knew. You were the big basketball stars. The whole school knew. Everyone went", her voice dropped to a whisper before saying, "to the funeral. They let us out of school for it."

"I didn't get to go. Chad and I were still in the hospital."

"Oh."

"They sent me off to Los Angeles for the surgery to save my leg."

"To save your leg?", Sharpay asked, surprised. "I didn't know it was that serious."

"Yeah, at the time of the accident, they were pretty sure they were going to have to amputate. The UCLA Medical Center is the best in the nation. But it was eight months before I returned home and that was only for a Christmas visit between surgeries." Troy took a deep breath. He didn't like remembering the pain -- both physical and emotional. "Yeah, it was eight months after the accident before I was able to visit Zeke's grave."

Troy heard a squeak and looked up to see Sharpay's eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't talk about this, anymore. It's not the most pleasant subject."

She breathed a deep, shuttering breath before opening her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. I-I guess we should get going, huh?", she glanced at her watch as she started to rise.

"Sure, I'll drive you home and then, call a cab. You shouldn't drive tonight. And I'll talk to Taylor in the morning and let you know what I find out."

"'Kay", she replied very quietly as he lead her out of the café.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Oh, come on, Taylor. This is Troy, here. Your dear old buddy, Troy", Troy pleaded to his pregnant friend. "Please, you're my only hope."

"I thought you were supposed to be a hard-boiled investigator, not a sniveling whiner. Why don't you go out there and do some investigating?", Taylor said in her firmest voice.

"We're at a dead end, Tay. I don't have any other options."

She stood up from her desk and quickly walked over to the door while saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to release that information." Then, she closed the door to her office and turned back to Troy. "Okay, let's see what we can find. All the information confiscated would be in boxes stored in the basement. Here, pick up that box", she hastily indicated to a box of printer paper sitting on the floor next to her desk.

"What?", Troy asked in confusion.

"Trust me."

Troy did and picked up the box as instructed. Taylor opened the door and proceeded him through it while talking loudly. Curious workers only glanced up at them briefly when they walked through the open space of the office.

"I hate feeling like a helpless female, but my doctor says I shouldn't be lifting more than ten pounds since I've entered my third trimester", Taylor said, a little more loudly than necessary.

"Yeah, well, this is definitely more than ten pounds", Troy groaned under the weight of the box. "What's in here? Bricks?"

"Just some paperwork that needs to go down to the basement."

"Basement?", Troy asked, playing along with her now that he understood what she was doing. "How far is that?"

"Quit whining, Troy. We'll be taking the elevator."

Once they were alone in the elevator, Troy turned to her and said, "Thanks, Taylor. You're a jewel."

"Don't I know it. I'll show you where the boxes are, but then I'll have to leave you there. I do have an actual job, you know."

"No problem and thanks again."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Three hours later, Troy was sitting on the concrete floor at the end of a long row of towering shelves, packed full of cardboard boxes, in the middle of a huge underground room full of long rows of towering shelves, similarly packed full of boxes. If it wasn't for Taylor, he would have never found the correct boxes. Taylor explained jokingly that it was one of the first things that newbies in the department were required to do. It was an IQ test, of sorts. Each new lawyer in the office was given the assignment of finding some irrelevant material on some irrelevant cold case to see if they could figure out the obscure filing system and actually come back with the correct folder. Some of them never came back at all; they just walked out and quit. However, they used the stories of the disappearing lawyers to scare the student interns. Rumors of ghosts haunting the lower levels ran rampant through the department.

Troy was working his way through his fifth box armed with nothing but a name and date: Sarah Edwards and December 24, 2009. Her baby was born on Christmas Eve. Troy slapped his forehead with his palm. How could he be so stupid? Yesterday, when he'd mentioned seeing Zeke's grave at Christmas time. No wonder she reacted the way she did. She was remembering giving away her baby that same Christmas. _Way ta go, Bolton._

He was almost finished with the box when he came across a stack of telephone messages. He stared at the stack of almost 100 slips of paper and considered just putting them back in the box and forgetting about it. His eyes were tired and his back hurt and let's not even talk about his knee. Troy let out a long sigh. Hell, if he didn't look and the information was in there, he'd never forgive himself.

However, after reading 23 scribbled messages which covered everything from the secretary's hair appointments to prospective adoptive parents, he really was ready to quit.

_Who keeps all this stuff?_

Just five more and if he didn't find anything, he'd quit.

The dates were suddenly starting to sync up: November 2009, December 2009. Then, there was the message: _Baby Emmy doing well. Parents are thrilled. What a wonderful Christmas present for their family!_ That had to be it. Sarah's name wasn't mention and there was no return telephone number, but there was a name: Mill... The end of the name was smudged, but it must have been from the family calling to thank the agency for the adoption. How many baby girls could have been adopted from this agency at Christmas time in 2009? This was his first real clue.

He quickly searched through the rest of the box, but didn't find anything else of significance. Troy pocketed the phone message and quickly shoved the papers back into the box. He couldn't wait to tell Sharpay.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Troy's heart ached just to look at her. Sharpay had grabbed onto the tiny phone message slip like it was a lifeline. She read it and reread it at least five times -- studying it intently, as if some hidden message would materialize from the faded ink. Finally, she looked up at him.

"This is all you found? There was a folder with my name on it. I know; I saw it when I signed all the papers. The woman put all my paperwork into a folder", she asked with a slight edge to her voice.

"That's all there was. I'm sorry. I checked through all the boxes."

"Oh." She carefully looked down at the paper again and commented forlornly, "Well, I guess it's better than nothing."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Troy sadly left Sharpay's house to return home in order to wrap up some paperwork for the Reyes case. It was dark already, but he really needed to finish this up, so he could collect the rest of his fee. Despite how interesting Sharpay was ... despite how interesting Sharpay's case was ... he corrected himself ... he still had obligations to his other clients.

He had just booted up his computer when there was knock at the door. Thinking it was probably Chad, since he hadn't returned any of his earlier phone calls, Troy jerked the door open with a scowl on his face. Instead he was surprised to find Sharpay Evans standing on his door step with a bag of Chinese take-out in one hand and a stack of telephone books in the other. She smiled brightly at him.

"Which do you prefer? Shrimp Lo Mein or General Tao's Chicken?"

"Uhhh? The Lo Mein, I suppose", Troy held the door open with a befuddled look on his face and she marched straight in. "How did you know where I lived?"

"You aren't the only one who can detect things, you know? I just called the taxi company you used last night and explained that I had forgotten to get your number and how I was sure that you were the love of my life and I really needed to find you. The romantic older woman who owned the company was only too happy to give me your address."

"Wow, I would have never thought of that", Troy commented in admiration. "But why are you here? I mean other than to bring me dinner which I really appreciate, by the way."

Troy lead her into the small kitchen and started getting out plates and silverware.

"Oh, you'll have to earn this dinner." She sat the bag down on the table and held the telephone books out to him. Here are the phone books for Albuquerque, Sante Fe, Gallup, and all the way down to Roswell. It occurred to me that we don't actually know where the adoptive parents lived, so we should search up to 100 miles in all directions..."

"We should search? How? What are you talking about?" Troy was opening the first container and started scooping steamed rice onto a plate.

She already had the telephone books opened to the 'M's when she looked up to accept a plate of rice and General Tao's Chicken from Troy.

"I didn't shoot to stardom overnight, you know. My first five years in Hollywood, I waited tables, cleaned apartments and worked as a pollster for a major research firm. I did the cold calls. The ones that everyone hates to get during dinnertime, but I was very good at it and I haven't forgotten how to spin a tale." She dug into her food with gusto which made Troy admire her even more. He couldn't stand women who were afraid to eat. "The trick", she continued, "is to make them want to help you."

She pulled out her cell phone and handed him a phone book.

"Eat up. We've got a lot of work to do. We have to finish all our calls before 9:30pm. It's rude to call after that ... or during American Idol. That's a big no-no. It's the longest running show on television. You'll never get an answer out of anyone if it's on."

"But how are we going to find out anything?" Troy changed his voice into an approximation of a radio announcer. "_Good evening, sir slash madam. Would you mind telling us if you have a 13 year old daughter named Emmy and if she was adopted? Oh, she was. That's wonderful. We'll be right over._"

She lifted one perfectly arched eyebrow and stared at him disdainfully.

"Of course not. First, you have to gain their confidence. You have to make them want to help you. And don't try and tell them that they've won something. No one falls for that. The first step is to find out if they have a daughter named Emmy and explain that we are researching the various and sundry variations of that name and how the spelling of names has changed over the years. Then, we can ask how old their daughter is, but don't come right out and ask it that way. They won't tell you. Ask about ranges of ages. That will get it narrowed down. Ask what their Emmy's name is short for. If it's a family name, how do they spell it and then, finally you can work your way back around to the question of her actual age. This will work. I just know it."

Troy had to smile. Her enthusiasm was infectious.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Three hours later, Troy and Sharpay were surrounded by empty takeout containers and an empty bottle of wine. Troy broke out the wine after they finished both the Albuquerque and Sante Fe phone books without finding Sharpay's daughter. By this point, they were sitting on the floor and leaning back against the couch. Troy wanted to scream and cry and pull his hair out -- as unmanly as that sounded. Who knew that Emmy, which it turned out could be short for Emily or Emma or Emmaline or Amelia, was the most common girl's name in the country? And after calling every Mill, Miller, Millner, Mills, and Millson in every phone book they had, they struck out. Oh, they found plenty of girls nicknamed Emmy, but they were all either two years old or forty-five.

"Why couldn't they have just kept the name I gave her? I called her Kathryn. I bet a Katie would be easier to find."

"I'm so sorry, Sharpay", Troy finally said as he closed the final telephone directory.

"Well, it was just an idea", she said forlornly.

"It was a good one; it really was. We just have to find the right house." Troy was trying to sound as upbeat as possible for her sake.

"No, it's no use. I mean they could have moved out of the state or that message could have just been wrong. We could be misinterpreting it completely." Sharpay wiped a tear away from her eye. "I'm sorry; I'm just so tired." She leaned her head against Troy's shoulder and closed her eyes.

His heart started to beat a little faster when she touched him. It made him feel like such a kid -- a kid who had just won the grand prize at the state fair.

Troy reached his arm around her and pulled her more securely to his side. It was an innocent act; he just wanted to bring her some comfort. Sharpay stiffened immediately in his arms and sat up straight, pushing him away.

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry", Sharpay repeated as she pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, hugging herself tightly.

Troy turned fully to face the upset blond and studied her closely for a minute before saying anything. "Why won't you let yourself get close to anyone? Is it because of him?"

Sharpay cocked her head to the side and turned to look at Troy.

"Because of who?"

"Your baby's father. Is he why you won't let yourself care for anyone? Did he hurt you so much?"

With her voice thick with emotion, she bit back at him. "You don't understand anything, Troy. I loved him soooo much and ... I guess, if I'm honest with myself, I still do." She was turning that heart shaped ring on her left hand again. "I just ... it didn't end well and yeah ... I suppose you're right. Maybe I won't let myself get close to people, but that's my decision. It's not because of anything he did to me. It's just the immense sadness I felt when he wasn't there anymore."

Troy took her right hand in his and and with his other hand, gently lifted her chin up so she was looking at him.

"That's no way to live your life, Sharpay. I should know because I think I've been doing that since my accident. I feel like I can't know if a woman likes me for myself or if she just feels sorry for me and is trying to do her good deed of the day by going out with me. I'm tired of living like that. I'm tired of being alone and I bet you are too."

During his entire speech, he was slowly moving closer to her until by the time he finished, his face was mere inches from hers.

She looked up at him and closed her eyes briefly. She seemed to come to a decision and opened her eyes. "You're right; I am tired of being alone", she whispered into his lips as their mouths came together in a heated kiss.

**TBC**

Woo-hoo! I got you guys some much needed TroyPay. Please R&R and let me know what you think.

About the deviated septum thing... I read that there was a rumor that Ashley Tisdale had breast enhancement done when she was having her nose done. And she said in an interview, basically what my Sharpay said ... that she'd look better if she'd had anything done.

Please don't kill me! I know I committed the ultimate sin; I've written evil, and **completely untrue**, things about Starbucks, but remember people: it is AU, **very** AU.

And you'll also notice that I've come up with a way for Troy to eat all those donuts without getting pudgy like betareader suggested in her review.

Also, I keep trying to add in little future references since the story takes place 14 years in the future. In the first chapter, it was Pirates of the Caribbean 8. In the last chapter, it was the iVid. Seems like everything is iSomething these days. In this chapter, it's the Hummer H6. Hummer keeps making them smaller, so I figure they'll be about the size of a bike in 14 years.

Hints, hints, this chapter is full of hints. Any ideas? PM me if you want to discuss it. Please, don't ruin the story by putting it in a review.

As seen on a real t-shirt: "People say I have ADD, but they just don't understand... oh look, a chicken!"


	4. The Search Takes a New Turn

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

_Previously..._

_She looked up into his eyes and closed her eyes briefly. She seemed to come to a decision and opened her eyes. "You're right; I am tired of being alone", she whispered into his lips as their mouths came together in a heated kiss._

**Chapter 4: The Search Takes a New Turn**

"Wow, you can see the Sandias really well from here."

Troy was sound asleep when Sharpay's voice broke through his sleepy brain and the events of the previous evening came rushing back to him. The Chinese food, the unproductive telephone calls, the empty bottle of wine, and finally, the mutual confessions of loneliness between him and Sharpay.

"You've got a beautiful view, Troy."

The covers were twisted at the bottom of the bed and he realized immediately that he wasn't wearing anything. He opened his eyes when he heard her voice the second time, coming from across the room. He self-consciously grabbed the extra pillow and covered himself with it as he looked up to search for Sharpay.

There she was, standing in front of Troy's sliding glass doors which led out onto a small balcony and faced east, looking towards the Sandia Mountains. Troy blinked twice to make sure he was seeing things correctly. She was still there -- Sharpay Evans -- and she was completely naked.

"I agree", he replied numbly, "but I don't think my view was ever _this_ good before."

At that, she whirled around to face him and without a shred of modesty or self-consciousness placed her hands on her hips and said in an almost lecturing tone, "Don't be crude, Troy. You really do have a gorgeous view."

Troy couldn't help himself, so he said with a smirk, "I know and it's getting better by the minute."

Without warning, Sharpay launched herself onto the bed and landed right on top of Troy where she began to tickle him mercilessly. He soon got the upper hand, however, and used his larger bulk to flip her over and held onto both of her hands while tickling her in her ribs. Thinking quickly and with a wicked grin on her face, she wiggled one hand loose and did the most logical thing with that hand to stop him from this tickling onslaught.

Troy stopped immediately as his eyes grew wide and he looked down at her. The smoldering look in her eyes and the sensations that were flowing through his body gave him but a moment's pause as he quickly crashed his lips into hers.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

_Secret agent man, secret agent man... They've given you a number and they take away your name._

"Yeah", Troy flipped open his cell phone right before it went to voicemail. Since he couldn't find any PI ringtones, he chose the 1960's classic, Secret Agent Man for his phone.

"_Troy? This is Taylor. I was just calling to find out if you had any luck with that phone message you found."_ She paused for a second before continuing with some new attitude in her voice. _"Are you still in bed? It's almost one o'clock in the afternoon."_

"Huh?", Troy glanced over at his clock on the nightstand before sliding his eyes over Sharpay's still sleeping form. "Yeah, I had a late night ... investigating the case. But to answer your question, no. We ... I mean ... I didn't find anything. It was very frustrating."

"_Oh, well in that case ... I think I might be able to help you. I didn't want to have to do this, but... Can you meet me for a late lunch ... say two o'clock at Schlotzsky's?"_ Taylor's taste in restaurants were definitely ruled by her pregnancy lately and her most recent cravings related to subs and those fantastic chopped black olives that Schlotzsky's deli put on their sandwiches.

"Sure, Taylor. I can do that."

"_Good and do you have Sharpay's number? She should be at this meeting too."_

A quick glance to Sharpay again. She was starting to stir.

"I'll take care of that and I'll bring her with me", he assured her before ending the call.

"Good morning ... again, secret agent man", she cooed seductively into his chest as she draped one of her legs across his waist.

Troy let out a long sigh while he played with the long strands of her hair. "We have to get up now. Taylor wants to meet us in an hour. It has something to do with the case."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Troy pulled into the parking space outside Schlotzsky's Deli with two minutes to spare before their appointment with Taylor. He was about the open the door when Sharpay stopped him with a gentle touch on his arm.

"Hey, I just wanted to say something before we go in...", she said as she regarded him with those rich chocolate brown eyes. "I'm really glad I took this chance with you, Troy."

Troy leaned over and gave her a slow, sweet kiss before pulling back and saying, "I'm glad _we_ took a chance on each other."

The smile she gave him made his heart soar as high as a hot air balloon in the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Taylor gave a little half wave to get their attention when Troy and Sharpay entered the sandwich shop. They went through the line to get their meal before joining Taylor at the table she held for them. She was already on the second half of the unique round sandwich when they sat down.

"Sorry, but I couldn't wait", Taylor explained as she patted her round belly. "Junior, here, was hungry." And then, to Sharpay, she added, "Hi, I'm Taylor. And you, of course, are Sharpay."

The two women shook hands and said hello as Troy and Sharpay sat down.

"God, I haven't had a Schlotzsky's in ages", Sharpay commented as she bit into her sandwich. "Mmmm, they're still to die for."

"I know. I just can't seem to get enough of them lately", Taylor replied as she finished off her own sandwich in one huge bite.

Troy just rolled his eyes. Two days ago when he and Chad had thought the salsa was more interesting than the case, Taylor had practically called them children and now she's doing the same thing. However, if it was one thing he'd learned about pregnant women, it was how to pick your battles, so he just let this one slide. Plus, he was starving since he'd missed breakfast and adding in the unusual amount of physical activity he'd had in the past twelve hours, he decided to enjoy his meal.

"Wow, you two act like you haven't eaten in days", Taylor commented while watching Troy and Sharpay devour their food while she sipped on her bottled water.

Sharpay shared a wide-eyed glance at Troy who took up the conversation immediately. "Sooo, what's Chad up to? I haven't talked to him in a couple of days."

Realizing she was getting blown off, Taylor answered his question. "Oh, he's up in Sante Fe today. He wrangled coverage of a press conference about the upcoming Pueblo bill in congress."

"Good for him", Troy said sincerely. "I'm glad he's getting more serious assignments."

Taylor's face lit up as something caught her eye. "Oh my, I haven't seen a ring like that in years", she commented with fondness while indicating Sharpay's entwined heart ring. "Chad gave me one of those in high school. It was my promise ring, but I don't wear it anymore. I keep mine in a jewelry box on my dresser."

Sharpay started coughing intensely on her food and Troy thought, for sure, he was going to have to Heimlich her. That ring ... maybe that's why Troy thought he recognized it. Maybe he remembered Taylor wearing one of those. He just wasn't sure.

"Are you okay?", Taylor asked with concern.

"Y-yeah", she replied, still coughing. "I'm fine. Sandwich just went down the wrong pipe."

Troy was gently patting her on the back with more familiarly than Taylor expected, so she decided to change the subject.

"Well, I guess you're wondering why I wanted to meet." At Troy and Sharpay's anxious nod, Taylor continued seriously and in a lowered voice, "I think I know how to find your daughter."

"You do?", Troy and Sharpay asked simultaneously.

"Yeah...", she seemed to be hesitant about continuing.

"Come on, Taylor. You're killing us here", Troy pleaded.

"Okay, here it is. In an adoption, the original birth certificate is sealed and filed away. It can't be seen again by anyone except by a court order. I can't even get a look at it."

Sharpay looked completely defeated. "But wait...", Taylor hurried on, "there is a way. After the original birth certificate is sealed, a new birth certificate is prepared showing the adoptive persons as the child's natural parents and the child's new name."

"This really isn't helping much, Taylor", Troy said as he linked hands with Sharpay to offer his silent support.

"Okay, okay... Here's the deal. Everything changes on the certificate except the sex of the baby, date, time and location of birth. If you give me that information, then I can search for all certificates that match. If nothing else, it should significantly narrow down the choices."

Sharpay's face brightened immediately. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course, I don't know if Troy told you, but I'm adopted. So I understand how frustrating this search can be."

"Then, why haven't you used this method to find your own mother?", Troy asked.

"Simple... I wasn't born in New Mexico. My dad was in the army and they were stationed in Texas when they adopted me. And I can't get access to Texas records. And besides", she dropped her voice and looked around them before continuing, "this isn't exactly legal, okay? So I'd appreciate it if you don't tell anyone."

"As much as I want to find her, I don't want you to get in any trouble with your job", Sharpay said, even though she was already jotting down the information Taylor needed for the birth certificate search.

"There's nothing to worry about, as long as Chad doesn't put it on the front page or something." Taylor took the paper and stood to leave. "Don't worry and I'll call you when I find something."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Back at Sharpay's house, Sharpay was preparing them a cup of Chai tea. Apparently, it was the butlers day off.

"I guess we just wait." Troy took an experimental sip of his drink. He didn't like trying new things. However, his eyes lit up when the spicy cinnamon warmth of the tea hit his tongue.

"Yeah." She joined him on the sofa and started to drink her own tea. "Hey, I didn't realize that Taylor was Chad's wife", she suddenly said out of the blue. "How long have they been married?" She was trying to appear casual, but Troy detected an underlying edge to her voice.

"Oh, I don't know ... eight years or so. Why?"

"No reason", she replied curtly. "Just curious."

"Did you know Taylor in high school?" He was going to figure what she was up to.

"Not really. We had a couple of classes together, but I doubt if she remembered me. Heck, I had classes with you, too. And you don't remember me."

"About that..."

"Please, don't say you're sorry for not remembering me. Trust me", she reached over and gently patted his arm. "I actually preferred it that way." A beat or two later, "So what would you be doing now, if you weren't babysitting me, that is?"

"I much prefer babysitting you." He scooted closer and started nuzzling at her neck.

"Hmmm, this is nice, but... seriously, what would you be doing?" She gently pushed him away and sat up, straightening her blouse which had mysteriously gotten pushed up. Boy, he worked fast.

He sat up and sighed, fingering his hand through his hair. "Okay, I'd be finishing up the report I need to do on the Reyes case and taking it over to Mr. Reyes. He's actually expecting it by 5pm tonight."

"And how much more do you have to do?"

"I...uh...haven't exactly started it yet."

She hopped to her feet and dragged him with her. "You can use my computer. It'll give us something to keep our minds off the wait. I'll type."

Troy grudgingly went out to his car to get his photos and notes on the case and then, followed her towards her home office. He already thought he had a great way to pass the time, but guessed that would have to wait.

They whipped out the report in two hours and walked hand-in-hand up to the plain, unadorned home of Mr. and Mrs. Reyes.

Glancing at the lack of landscaping and the haphazardly placed rocks strewn about the barren yard, Sharpay couldn't help but comment.

"Now this is xeriscaping gone wrong."

"I'll say. It's more like z_ero_-scaping. But you can tell this is definitely not a guy who likes to work in his yard." Troy finished his comment just as he reached out to ring the doorbell.

Mr. Reyes' appearance didn't surprise them. He was a fat, sloppy looking man, wearing a dirty white t-shirt and worn out, dirty jeans.

"Yeah?", he grunted at them.

Troy stepped forward. "Troy Bolton, Mr. Reyes. I have the ... ah ... report you ordered", Troy said professionally and using obscure language that wouldn't alert Mrs. Reyes to the true purpose of his visit.

"Oh. Come on in and don't worry 'bout nothin'. Delores ain't here." He walked into the dingy kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and took out two cans of beer. "You want one?", he offered Troy. Troy shook his head and Sharpay just looked put out at being ignored. "So let's see it."

Troy turned over the report and Mr. Reyes flipped through it quickly and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. "200 bucks, right?" He handed over the money and took a big gulp out of his beer, followed by a loud belch. "Well, thanks for the info; now I can get that divorce I been wantin'."

Troy and Sharpay stood in awkward silence in the small kitchen. Troy finally spoke up, "Well, I guess we're finished here."

"Not so fast", Sharpay stepped up to the distasteful man. "Look, Mr. Reyes... let's not be so formal. I'm Sarah and you are...?", she offered and she extended her hand (all the while thinking about the travel-size hand sanitizer in her purse).

"Sebastian. My name is Sebastian." He smiled slightly.

"Oooo, that must have been tough when you were a kid", Troy commented sympathetically.

"You said it. My mom was a big fan of Evelyn Waugh and Brideshead Revisited."

"I loved that movie. Anything with Dame Emma Thompson is wonderful. However, Sebastian is almost as formal as Mr. Reyes; may I call you Sebe?", Sharpay asked warmly.

"That's what Delores calls me." Reyes told her, but he didn't disagree with the nickname.

"Now, let's talk about your relationship, or lack there of, with your wife, Sebe."

"Delores?", he asked dumbfounded.

"Yes, Delores. Did you actually get a chance to look at those photos Troy took at the motel?"

"No, I'm not really interested in looking at her groping some other guy."

"Then, you need to take a good look because this isn't a woman meeting her secret lover for a romantic tryst. This is a woman searching for some sort of an emotional connection that she's obviously not getting at home. She's not happy in these pictures. That man is a gigolo, for lack of a better word."

Sharpay walked over to the mantel in the adjoining family room and picked up a framed photograph. It showed a happy, smiling couple posing in front of Cinderella's Castle at Disneyland.

"Look at this, Sebe. Here, Delores is happy ... and so are you, by the way."

"That was our honeymoon. She just loves Disneyland", Sebastian commented as he accepted the picture from Sharpay. An uncharacteristic tenderness washed over his face.

"What happened to that loving couple, Sebe? I think you need to try and find them instead of cutting and running. You loved each other once. Can't you try and find it in your heart to love again?"

Troy was standing to the side and watching Sharpay with awe. While he realized that he was quickly falling for her, he never realized she had such depth.

Big, fat, sloppy tears started to drop, unashamedly down Sebastian Reyes' face. "You're right, Sarah. I really miss the people who're in this picture." Sharpay laid her hand on the man's arm, offering him some little bit of comfort. "And I'm gonna find them again. I swear." He pulled Sharpay into a big bear hug and cried like a baby into her shoulder.

Sharpay stared helplessly at Troy, silently, pleading for help.

"Oh look, Seb. I think that's your wife now", Troy announced as he saw a car pull into the carport.

Sebastian stepped back from Sharpay and with an embarrassed look on his face, pulled the bottom edge of his t-shirt up to wipe the tears from his face. Sharpay blanched when she got a split second view of his bulging belly hanging over the expanding waistband of his pants. She quickly shut her eyes and turned away.

Mr. Reyes didn't seem to notice and he quickly retrieved the report from the countertop and handed it back to Troy. "I don't want this anymore, Mr. Bolton. I'm going to make my marriage work, starting tonight."

"Oh, well...", Troy mumbled as started to pull the cash out of his pocket.

"Oh no, you keep that. Take the little lady out on the town", he winked at Troy. "And whatever you do, don't lose that one. She's a keeper."

They held the door open for a confused looking Delores Reyes on their way out.

Back in the car, Troy grinned hugely at Sharpay and said, "You're amazing. Do you know that?"

"Well, duh...", she replied and then starting digging in her purse for that hand sanitizer. Once her hands were clean, she turned to him and asked, "So, do most of your cases involve cheating husbands and wives?"

"Unfortunately, yes. One time, I was actually hired by both the husband _and_ the wife. They were both cheating on each other and trying to catch the other cheating on them. It was a match made in divorce court."

"That's crazy."

"Yeah, but they're not all that bad. When I first started, one of my parent's neighbors hired me to find her missing cat."

"Her missing cat?", Sharpay asked, disbelievingly. "You take animal cases?"

"Not normally, no. But I did this time. See, my client was a nine year old girl named Samantha and she emptied her whole piggy bank to pay me. Her cat had been missing for over a week and everyone thought she was gone forever."

"I'm intrigued. What happened? Did you find it?"

"Of course", Troy replied as he pantomimed polishing his nails on his shirt. "It turned out to be really funny. Seems an elderly neighbor, Mrs. Alholtz, had accidentally kidnapped or rather, catnapped, her."

"How do you _accidentally_ kidnap a cat?"

"Well... Mrs. Alholtz is the crazy old lady that every neighborhood has. You know, the one who has 14 cats and never leaves her house? Somehow, Samantha's cat ended up at Mrs. Alholtz's house and she honestly thought the cat was hers. She has one the same color. Once we gathered up all the cats and showed her the two matching cats, she admitted her mistake and gave the cat back. The last I heard, Sam and her cat still go over to Mrs. Alholtz's once a week for afternoon tea."

"That's hilarious. You should write a screenplay about your adventures. You might be able to sell it to Hollywood."

"I really doubt anyone would be interested in my life."

"I would", Sharpay said as she looked deeply into his eyes. A mischievous smile danced across her lips.

Troy took a deep, much needed, breath. A man could spend years learning the curves of her smile. He drove a little faster for the rest of the trip and when they reached Sharpay's house for the second time that day, Troy got to pick how to pass the time.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

"Yeah?", Troy groaned into the phone.

"_We keep having these conversations, Troy"_, came Taylor's voice. _"And you sleep entirely too much."_

"What's up, Taylor?", he asked, ignoring her jab.

"_Wake up Sharpay and meet me at the county courthouse in 45 minutes."_

"Okay... hey, wait a minute. What do you mean? Wake up Sharpay."

"_Oh, come on, Troy. I wasn't valedictorian for nothing. I'll meet you guys in the lobby and don't be late. This is very serious."_

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

"It's a good thing, don't you think?", Sharpay asked nervously as they hurried up the steps of the Bernalillo county courthouse. "I mean", she hurried on, "when I audition for a part, and they call me right away, that's usually good news. It normally means I got the part. So this is probably a good thing, right? It didn't take Taylor long to find out something."

Troy didn't answer; he just held more tightly onto her hand. He had a bad feeling about this.

Taylor met them, wearing a stylish maternity business suit on her body and a worried look on her face.

"Okay, let's just hear what they have to say, agreed?", she told them as they walked toward the closed double doors of private conference room.

"What's going on, Taylor? Why all the mystery?", Troy asked anxiously.

They stopped just outside the doors and Taylor turned to the two of them. "It turns out there really was something..."

Before she could continue, the door opened to reveal a long conference table. A secretary had opened the door and ushered them into the room where the women took two of the three empty seats. Troy stood in silence as he stared at someone on the other side of the room.

"Hello, Troy", a warm female voice said.

"Hi, Gabi. Umm, long time, no see."

**TBC**

Wow, this one had loads and loads of Troypay and loads and loads of hints and mystery (if you know where to look).

And what did Taylor find out and what does any of this have to do with Gabriella? My, oh, my. The mind reels.

Please R&R and let me know what you think.

All that stuff about adoption is true. They really do seal the original certificate and change the birth parents names to the adopted parents. Isn't that weird? I mean it works out great for this story because it's a major plot point, but I just find it incredible that that's how it's done.

More local flavor... Each fall Albuquerque hosts the largest hot air balloon show in the world. It is truly a site to behold and if you ever get a chance to go, don't pass it up. I keep meaning to do a story about it -- like Troypay gets trapped in a runaway balloon or something.

Anymore guesses about what's going to happen? I'd love to hear from you.

Here's my turn to whine. I'm not getting nearly as many reviews as I used to get. So either people don't like my stuff anymore (boo hoo) or everyone is having such a fantastic summer that they don't have time to read anything (let's hope that's the reason). It's ironic that I have more time to write, but no one has any time to read. Maybe I should just save this story for the fall.


	5. Mystery Solved, But At What Cost

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

_Previously..._

_They stopped just outside the doors and Taylor turned to the two of them. "It turns out there really was something..."_

_Before she could continue, the door opened to reveal a long conference table. A secretary had opened the door and ushered them into the room where the women took two of the three empty seats. Troy stood in silence as he stared at someone on the other side of the room._

"_Hello, Troy", a warm female voice said._

"_Hi, Gabi. Umm, long time, no see."_

**Chapter 5: Mystery Solved, But At What Cost**

"If everyone would please have a seat, we can get started", announced an authoritative man in an expensive dark suit. "I'm Roberto Guttierez, District Attorney for the 2nd district and Taylor's boss. She came to me this morning with some very disturbing information and I'm the one who called this meeting."

Roberto Guttierez was an imposing figure of a man and Troy could very well imagine that he would be very formidable in a courtroom. However, Troy's earlier apprehension over this case just tripled when first, he saw his high school girlfriend and now, the District Attorney, himself, in this meeting. This just couldn't be good news. One look over at Sharpay confirmed that she was getting the same vibes.

Mr. Guttierez nodded to the man sitting at his right and the smaller man spoke next. "I'm Jack Burton. I work with Taylor also, and specialize in family law and children's rights."

"Hi, I'm Gabriella Scheller", the former Gabriella Montez said shyly with an awkward little wave in Troy's direction. "I'm a counselor for Child Protective Services."

"We know who Miss Evans, or Miss Edwards, in this case, is", Guttierez said, "but we don't who you are." He looked pointedly at Troy, awaiting a reply.

"I'm Troy Bolton. I'm the private investigator who Ms. Evans hired to find her daughter", Troy said with great authority -- much more than he was feeling.

"In that case, I suppose you may remain", the District Attorney said to Troy and then, turned to Sharpay with a much softer look on his face. "Now, Miss Evans... please bear with us while we explain what Mrs. Danforth discovered."

"Right", Taylor piped up. She really wished she had had a chance to finish this in the hall before they came in. "When I did the birth certificate search, I didn't find any other certificates which matched Sharpay's daughter's statistics." Sharpay frowned and Troy looked confused. "I did, however, find the original birth certificate."

"But how can that be?", Sharpay asked impatiently. "You said that certificate was sealed when the new one was issued."

"That's right, it is", Jack Burton added. "But in this case, it looks like the adoption was never finalized, so the original certificate was sitting right there all these years waiting to be found."

"W-what d-do you mean? Never finalized? What happened to my baby?" Sharpay's voice was filled with distress and tinged with anger. Troy reached under the table and took her hand in him, squeezing it gently. She squeezed back.

"The adoptive parents returned her, before the adoption was made permanent." Burton took a deep breath. He didn't like delivering this kind of information. "They wanted a ... um ... _white_ baby. Your baby had very light skin and it wasn't until they went to complete the paperwork at the courthouse that they saw the original birth certificate and saw the races of the parents that you entered."

Taylor cleared her throat and continued the story. She held a copy of the certificate in her hand now and read from it. "Mother: Sarah Edwards, Race: White. Father: was left blank, Race: African American."

Sharpay paled instantly and Troy turned sharply to look at her. He wasn't expecting this. She pulled her hand away and started automatically worrying with her heart ring. Troy's eyes dropped immediately to her left hand and that damn ring. That ring... Troy could barely control his anger. Suddenly, it all made sense. He looked away from her and started reflexively grinding his teeth together. Why couldn't she trust him enough to tell him the truth?

"Sarah ... sorry, Sharpay", Gabriella took up the baton. "The Right Choice Family Center wasn't able to place your baby after that. It was about the same time as the investigation against the agency started and they, apparently, had their hands full. When the state raided the agency, your daughter, Kathryn Edwards, was put into foster care and she's been there ever since. I don't know if they tried to find you or not, but we did. That is, the state of New Mexico tried to find you and you had just disappeared."

Sharpay's heart was hammering so fiercely that it threatened to erupt out through her throat.

"F-foster care? My baby's been in foster care for 13 years?" Every horror story she ever heard about foster care came streaming into her brain in flawlessly sharp focus -- as clear as a Blu-ray disc. Foster care meant poverty, living in overcrowded houses, and in the worst cases, abuse.

"Unfortunately, yes, Ms. Evans. The parental consent you signed was effective only for the original adoption", Burton explained. "When that fell through, we needed your permission for another adoption to take place and since we couldn't find you or prove that you were dead, we were trapped in a legal Catch-22."

Troy's mind took a different route. Even though he was still angry at her for her obvious deception, what happened to Sharpay couldn't just be swept under the rug. Now he understood why the District Attorney, himself, was here. They were scared shitless that she was going to sue their asses off.

Directing his ire at Burton, Troy rose to his feet.

"What the hell do you mean you couldn't find her? It's not like she was hiding or on the run or something. She had her name legally changed. I was able to find her. Are you trying to tell me that the great state of New Mexico, with all its resources, wasn't able to find one woman?"

"Please calm yourself, Mr., uh", Guttierez looked down at his notes for Troy's name, "Bolton. It was a mistake. We readily admit that and yes, now that we understand the circumstances, we realize that we should have been able to find her." He placed his large hands on the table in a helpless gesture. "It, simply, never occurred to us to check for a legal change of name. We aren't an evil entity, Mr. Bolton. We're just a large, overworked government agency."

Troy flopped back into his seat, emitting a disgruntled huff.

Sharpay spoke again an a much quieter, pleading voice. "Please, where is she? Is she alright?" Her voice was filled with so much grief that it actually hurt to listen to her.

Gabriella brightened considerably and she straightened in her seat. "Well, that's the good news and here I can speak with personal knowledge. You see, when we found Katie at the adoption agency, ... apparently, she was being kept there in hopes that they could find someone to take her. Anyway, when the prosecutor's office raided the offices, she was almost three months old. I was a freshman in college and was interning, at the time, with the Child Welfare Office. She was so precious that I fell in love with her instantly. I-I took her home with me and at first, my mom fostered her and then, when I married Jeremy, she came to live with us. Please understand, that we love Katie like she was our very own and we would have adopted her, had we had the chance."

Troy could tell Sharpay was on the verge of crying, but then, suddenly, she sat up ramrod straight in her seat. It was like a mask had slid silently over her face as she transformed into the cold, heartless Hollywood diva just as the media constantly portrayed her. Her defenses were in place and nothing was going to hurt her. Sharpay opened her mouth and stated slowly in a clear, concise voice, "I would like a see my daughter."

Troy knew actually what she was doing. Hell, she did it for a living. She was acting.

"Oh, absolutely", Gabriella gushed sincerely. "We'd love to have you over. Would tomorrow afternoon be okay? Katie gets home from school around 3:30. And you'll see... she's a wonderful, happy girl." Troy thought he heard a very slight bit of apprehension in her voice, but dismissed it due to the drama of the whole situation.

"That would be fine."

"Well, that's settled", Mr. Guttierez stated as he closed his Filofax leather organizer and hefted his enormous bulk up, out of his seat. "Taylor, I'll expect an update on this case by COB Friday."

"I'm not sure anything is _settled_ just yet", Troy replied firmly, but he, too, rose and pulled Sharpay's chair out for her.

Guttierez and Burton ignored Troy's thinly veiled threat and exited the room, leaving Taylor, Troy, Sharpay and Gabriella alone.

Gabriella stepped over to Troy and pulled him into a warm hug. Troy felt Sharpay stiffen beside him while he returned Gabriella's hug half-heartedly after a short moment of hesitation.

"It is sooo good to see you again, Troy", Gabriella told him as they pulled apart. "I just wish it was under different circumstances."

"Yeah, yeah... me too. How are you, Gabi?"

Troy mind was filled with conflicting emotions; it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying. On one hand, he was still terribly angry at Sharpay over her recently discovered deception. And on the other, he couldn't help but feel a bit of pride that a woman like Sharpay Evans could be jealous of an old girlfriend of his.

"I'm great, but I really need to run now. Here's my address", she pressed a piece of paper into his hand. "You'll be coming with Ms. Evans tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, he will", Sharpay answered for him.

Gabriella gave Sharpay another warm smile before she left and told her how happy she was that they found her.

"I am so sorry that I didn't get a chance to explain things before we went in there. That was really awkward", Taylor explained as she walked them through the parking lot towards Sharpay's car.

Before Sharpay could tell her how much she appreciated everything she'd done for her, she was interrupted by a loud voice booming across the lot towards them.

"Taylor! There you are, babe. I've been looking for you everywhere", Chad explained excitedly as he gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Then, noticing Troy and Sharpay for the first time, he turned to his best friend. "Troy, my man, I've been trying to call you. And this must be Sharpay. Nice to meet you. I'm..."

Chad didn't get a chance to finished because at that moment, Troy slammed into him and pushed him violently away from Sharpay.

"Wha...?", Chad exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't you act like you've never met her, you son of a bitch", Troy screamed into Chad's face. "And to think I believed that whole 'we waited til we were married' bullshit. Taylor may have waited, but you didn't, did ya, Chad?"

"What are you talking about, Troy?", Taylor asked with concern as she stepped between the two friends.

"Why don't you ask your loving husband, uh?", Troy pointed to Chad, whose t-shirt of the day proudly proclaimed _**Baby Daddy**_ with an arrow pointing up to him. "Were you so proud the first time you fathered a child, Chad? Did you wear that shirt fourteen years ago when you got Sarah Edwards knocked up?"

Chad was too stunned to reply, but Taylor wasn't.

"That's ridiculous, Troy. You don't know what you're talking about." Her eyes narrowed to tiny slits and she planted her hands on what was left of her hips to take a stance for her husband. "He didn't even know her in high school."

"Umm, that's not exactly true", Chad said quietly as he shot a nervous look towards Sharpay who was remaining uncharacteristically quiet during this whole exchange.

"I knew it!", Troy proclaimed. "It was the ring, wasn't it? That heart ring." Chad's eyes widened in surprise at Troy's words. "Not only did you go behind your girlfriend's back and get Sharpay pregnant, but you had the gall to give them both the same promise ring."

"This is ridiculous and you are way off in these crazy accusations", Sharpay finally stated as she stepped up to group. "Yeah, I knew Chad in high school, sort of. See, he helped _my_ baby daddy pick out that ring for me." She turned to Chad with a smile. "I never got to thank you for that, Chad. It was perfect and I-I still wear it." Then, she sucked in an exasperated breath before turning to face Troy, full on.

"I'm sorry you got all worked up with this insane theory of yours, but you're wrong. You see, ... Zeke Baylor is ... was ... Katie's father. He's the one who gave me my promise ring. B-but he never deserted me, like you thought, because... he died before he ever knew I was pregnant."

**TBC**

Okay, time to fess up. Who had it figured out? I've been trying to set up poor Chad since the beginning -- laying out all these false trails. Hope it worked.

I know this was a short chapter, but this seemed like the best place to end it.

If you haven't noticed before now, I like to mix in Hispanic names with Anglo names for minor characters. Since I actually used to live in Albuquerque, I know that's how it really works there. I still (and I've said this before) think it's ironic that the new kid in a high school in Albuquerque, NM is the Hispanic girl in a public high school where there only appears to be one or two other Hispanics in the entire school. Freaky that, uh?

Oh, oh, oh! Have you guys seen the Elle photo shoot with Zac, Ashley, and Vanessa... or should I say Zac, Vanessa, and ... Ashley. She is definitely a 3rd wheel in this thing. Except... there's this one picture where the three of them are in a car: Zac is caressing Vanessa's hair while Ashley and Vanessa are holding hands while lying side by side and both of them are gazing lustfully at Zac. I've started calling that one "**Ménage à** Disney". So here's the challenge, ladies... Somebody write a one-shot (or more) about a threesome with either ZacNessaAsh or TroyGabPay. And make it 'M'.

Check elle dot com to look at the pics.


	6. Flashback

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

_Previously..._

"_I'm sorry you got all worked up with this insane theory of yours, but you're wrong. You see, ... Zeke Baylor is ... was ... Katie's father. He's the one who gave me my promise ring. B-but he never deserted me, like you thought, because... he died before he ever knew I was pregnant."_

**Chapter 6: Flashback**

"Zeke Baylor?", Troy and Taylor exclaim simultaneously. Chad was conspicuously and uncharacteristically silent, which did not go unnoticed for long.

Troy turned to him and said accusingly, "You knew? All this time, you knew and you just let me go around thinking you didn't know who this woman was?"

"Nah, man... It's not like that", Chad said calmly, hoping that way would calm down Troy too.

"Then, what is it _like_, Chad? I think we'd all like to know."

"I'd like to know." This came from his quick-to-anger, hormonal wife.

"Excuse me", Sharpay interrupted quietly, "but I think we should take this discussion somewhere else. A parking lot hardly seems appropriate."

"She's right", Taylor agreed.

At Sharpay's house twenty minutes later, she prepared green tea while the other three silently fumed at each other in her living room. It seemed that Sharpay had an entire pantry full of different varieties of tea.

"Okay, where were we?", Sharpay asked as she settled down onto a plush upholstered chair with her cup of tea.

"Chad was about to explain how he's been lying to us about knowing you", Troy supplied as he sat his china cup down on the coffee table. He much preferred the chai tea.

"I didn't_ know_ her. I only saw her. And that was one time and from a distance..."

"_Thanks again for helping me, man. I don't know anything about jewelry or what girls like", said a youthful Zeke Baylor as he sat in the passenger seat beside one of his best friends, Chad Danforth, who was driving his car in heavy nighttime traffic. The two teenage boys looked like they hadn't a care in the world._

"_She's gonna love it!", beamed Zeke, excitedly. He held a small ring box in his hand and lifted it up to the map light to study the small silver entwined-heart ring._

"_Glad to help, buddy. And hey, you helped me out too. I was having a hard time finding just the right thing to give Taylor. Next week is our six month anniversary and I think I'm ready to give her a promise ring. She's the one, you know. I'm gonna marry that woman one day."_

_Zeke nodded in agreement. "I feel the same way about my girl and it didn't take me six months to figure it out."_

"_Hey, who is this mystery girl anyway? Why won't you bring her around?" Chad was skillfully navigating through the city toward the shopping mall while he continued to talk to his friend._

"_It's complicated. She's got some family issues to deal with. But it won't be long now. She's coming to the prom with me whether her 'rents like it or not." His face was full of determination. "Okay, just pull in front of the foodcourt entrance. That's where I told her I'd meet her."_

"_Oooo, dinner at a mall foodcourt. You are one classy guy, Zeke."_

_Ignoring his friend, Zeke started waving in excitement when he spotted the petite blond standing near the entrance. She perked up immediately and returned his wave with a big smile on her face._

"_There she is! Isn't she beautiful?" Zeke absolutely radiated pride when he looked at her._

"_Wow, I got to say, man that I'm mighty impressed. She's quite the looker. You done good, Zeke", Chad said in genuine approval while his steered the car up to the curve. "Don't quite know what she sees in you, though", he added, jokingly._

"_Well, tonight, she's gonna see a man in love." Zeke hopped out of the car and ran to meet his girl._

"Then, why didn't you recognize her from her yearbook picture? Huh? You said you'd never seen her before, ... and I quote, 'in my entire life'", Troy hammered Chad with questions while he sat anxiously on the edge of his seat.

"Because she looked nothing like that picture, man. She was cute and blonde and she wasn't wearing any glasses."

"He's right; I didn't look like myself -- the real me -- the high school me, that is." Sharpay sat down her cup and took a deep breath before continuing. "I-I was doing a Hanna Montana sort of thing, you see. You remember that show, right? It's how Miley Jonas got started. Well, she was Miley Cyrus back then. Anyway, I was being, well,... what Zeke wanted."

"What?"

"It all started with how we met. I was finally finished with living offstage; I was going to start living center stage and basking in the limelight. Even though, I was the co-president of the drama club with Ryan, I'd always been a stagehand -- too shy and introverted to be out front. That was Ryan's territory. Then, came the drama club's winter play -- Chicago. I got the role of Roxie Hart, a woman accused of murdering her lover, and Ryan was Billy Flynn, the shady lawyer who defended her. We played it to the hilt." She paused in her story and took on a wistful continence before she added, "Unfortunately, hardly anyone saw it. The play premiered on the same night as the state basketball playoffs. My own _parents_ preferred the playoffs."

"Hey, I remember that -- one of the best nights of my life", Chad said longingly. "We played at the University - of - Albuquerque - Coliseum. Man, it don't get no better'n that."

"But wait a minute, what's this got to do with Zeke?", Troy asked impatiently, then it dawned on him. "I remember now... he didn't play that night, did he, Chad? That's right, he was suspended because his grades dropped below a 'C' average. I'd forgotten all about that."

"Right. He was really ticked at Coach Bolton, so the last place he wanted to be was the coliseum, watching his teammates play without him", Sharpay said as she continued her story. "So there I was... the blond wig, the make-up, the contact lenses... I looked like a million bucks and ... there were less than ten people in the entire audience. But it didn't really matter, because one of them ... was Zeke."

_Sarah noticed him during the first act. He was sitting front row, center and munching on a contraband bag of popcorn. Ms. Darbus would have a fit if she knew. Sarah just had to smile at that and surprisingly enough, he smiled back ... at her. She recognized him from the basketball team, of course. It was sort of hard to miss them when their posters were plastered all over the school. He was Zeke Baylor. However, she'd never really looked at him closely before. She did now. Every chance she had when she was backstage waiting for her cue, she studied him from behind the curtains. He was tall and he sat slumped down into the seat except when she was on stage. Then, he sat up to his full height and watched her with unwavering interest. Zeke had a medium dark complexion and spiraling, tightly coiled curls that were cut close to his head. He had such a young, angelic look on his baby face that it made her melt just to look at him. But it was his eyes that were most arresting, he had a kind of wide-eyed innocent look in those obsidian orbs. _

_By the closing number, she was singing only for him. Therefore, it should have come as no surprise when he actually managed to beat her back to her own dressing room._

_Sarah flew into the small room with a huge smile on her face. Even though she performed to a much less than full house, she felt like she was walking on air. That cute guy in the first row had made it no secret that he was interested in her. _**In her**_... imagine that. She sat down at her dressing table and was just about to lift the wig off when she glanced up into the mirror and screamed._

_Zeke Baylor was standing directly behind her. At Sarah's reaction, he jumped back and screamed too. Sharpay spun around on her stool and jumped to her feet, her hands automatically flying to her thundering heart._

"_Wha...?"_

_He held his hands up innocently and said in an amiable tone, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you; I just reeeally wanted to meet you." Then, he lowered his arms and offered his right hand out to her with a winning smile on his face. "Hi, I'm Zeke."_

_A shy smile flitted across her face and she stepped toward him. "Hi, I'm Sarah. Nice to meet you."_

"_You were fantastic", he gushed. "You won't believe it, but this is the first play I've ever seen."_

"_Thanks for saying that. And you won't believe it, but this is the first play I've ever starred in."_

"_I do find that hard to believe. You're such a natural."_

_They were interrupted when Ryan stuck his head in the door. "Hey Sar, are you coming with me and Bryce to Denny's?"_

_Zeke and Sarah look first at Ryan and then, at each other. Zeke looked suddenly very sad and let his gaze drift to the floor. Sarah turned back to Ryan._

"_No, go on without me. You and Bryce have fun ... but not too much", she told her twin with a wink._

_Ryan nodded to her and left with a slightly confused look on his face. But if it was because of Zeke being in the room or her comment about having fun with Bryce, it was anyone's guess._

"_You sure you don't want to go with them?", Zeke asked as his face lifted cautiously to hers._

_She nodded. "I'm sure. There's just so much googly eyes I can take in one night." At Zeke's confused expression, she explained. "Bryce is Ryan's boyfriend. He goes to West High."_

"_Ryan's boyfriend? You mean he's..."_

"_Yes, but he's not **out** yet, so please don't say anything." She said the word, out, with air quotes._

"_My lips are sealed." That was followed by an awkward silence before Zeke broke it by saying, "Well, I guess I'd better get goi..."_

"_Don't!", Sarah interrupted. She couldn't believe her boldness. "I mean ... we could go somewhere ... if you want, and talk, ... if you want."_

"_Oh, I want that a lot", Zeke nodded enthusiastically. _

"_I just need to change clothes."_

"_I think you look great just the way you are."_

"_Oh...", she seemed stuck for a moment. She didn't look anything like she normally looked. A moment of insecurity hit her. Did he like her or Roxie? However, one look at his worshipful gaze and she decided she didn't really care._

"We ended up at Netherwood Park and talked for hours and hours about everything from our favorite TV shows to Coach Bolton's rigorous training schedule", Sharpay finished with a sigh and reached over for a sip of her, now tepid, tea.

Troy paled when he heard Netherwood Park. It was one of the biggest make-up spots in the city and where he and Gabriella had...

Taylor was listening with rapt attention. "So, did he ever know about the wig and stuff?"

"Yeah, and why didn't we know about you?" This was from Troy as he was trying to distance himself from that long ago memory of Gabriella.

"I told him eventually and let him see the real me. After all, we _were_ intimate and that would have been difficult with a wig on." She paused briefly before she added, "He said he still loved me." Sharpay's voice sounded a little unsure. Sharpay blinked quickly and seemed to refocus herself. "But we stayed a secret because of my father. You see, he was, and is, the biggest racist out there."

"What? That doesn't make any sense", Troy said.

"Yeah, it doesn't. Vance Evans is the main reason we got those basketball scholarships to U of A", Chad scooted to the edge of his seat and placed his elbows on his knees. "He was one of the Board of Directors, right?"

"He still is, but he also owns a restricted country club. Oh, he didn't mind if people of color cleaned his pools or caddied his golf clubs or even, played on his alma mater's basketball team, but he'd be damned if he'd let them join his club or the board of directors, for that matter."

"But that's illegal", Taylor added as she leaned in to snatch a cookie off the tray on the coffee table. She was already an hour past her normal lunch time.

"Only if you get caught. Look, I don't know how he did it, but he's never been caught, never even been investigated."

"Well ... now. Something tells me that's going to change soon", said a newly determined looking Taylor Danforth and criminal prosecutor for the county. "Don't you think so, honey? You've been looking for that story that will pull you out of high school sports reporting." Chad nodded his head slowly in agreement.

"So, your father was a bastard, you and Zeke started dating, you got knocked up and then he died? And you lied to me about all of this", Troy asked caustically. He was still angry with her for not trusting him with this information earlier.

"Troy!", Taylor barked in a chastising voice.

"It's okay. I understand, really I do. You're mad at me for not trusting you, but I had my reasons." She flitted a glance in Taylor and Chad's direction and then, looked back to Troy, but remained silent.

Taylor caught on immediately. Awkwardly rising to her feet, she turned to Sharpay and thanked her for her hospitality. Chad didn't notice her movement since she had been sitting on his 'blind' side.

She roughly pulled him to her feet and told him, "Come on, Chad. You're supposed to be taking me to lunch."

"But... I want to find out the rest of the story. What happened after he gave her the ring? What about the prom? Did anyone else ever find out?" Chad had a frantic look about his eyes like a housewife whose favorite soap opera just left her with a huge cliffhanger.

"I said it's time to go", Taylor replied as if talking to a child.

"We are talking about the greater good."

"'_Greater good?_' I am your wife! I'm the greatest _**good**_ you are ever gonna get!"

Chad backed down immediately as he quickly realized who was in charge. He made a gesture to Troy by placing his pinkie to his mouth and his thumb to his ear, indicating the international signal for 'call me later' before Taylor dragged him out the door.

Sharpay led the Danforths out and came back to find Troy standing near those twenty foot high picture windows which faced to the west. It was mid-afternoon now and Troy could just imagine what the city lights must look like once the sun sets.

Sharpay joined him and they both stood side by side at the windows. After a few minutes she broke the silence. "So..."

Troy wasn't ready to be cordial, so he replied sarcastically to her reflection in the window, "So..."

Sharpay turned to face him and sighed deeply. "Look, I don't think I'm ready for this yet, but here goes. I've got issues out the yin-yang. I've been basically alone for 14 years, Troy. And when I say alone, I mean emotionally, not physically. God knows, I'm not a saint, but I've never allowed myself to become vulnerable with my lovers. And it was all because of Zeke, not that it's his fault. You see, I never believed him when he told me that he loved me for me. That's why I don't get close to people. Hell, you're the one person I thought I maybe _could_ get close to." She turned away from him and stood silently for a few minutes. When he didn't say anything, she finally added in a sad tone, "But I guess I was wrong."

"I-I...", Troy started, but he really had no idea what to say. He was as dysfunctional as she. Therefore, he decided to protect himself. He turned to Sharpay's back and said coolly, "I'll go with you to Gabriella's tomorrow. I said I would go."

Sharpay whirled around to face him with a calculating look in her eyes. "You never said that. I was the one who said you'd come", she corrected.

"Well, I'm going anyway. I'll pick you up at three." With that strongly delivered, yet stupid statement, he left.

Once she was alone, Sharpay finally broke down. And as she cried her heart out for her dead boyfriend, her lost daughter, and now her lost lover, she felt strangely proud that she'd been able to put up such a strong public front. And she'd never felt more miserable and helpless in her entire life.

**TBC**

Don't you just love that name, Bryce, for Ryan's boyfriend. It is, like, uber gay.

btw, The University of Albuquerque, as depicted in HSM2, doesn't exist. The big school in ABQ is the University of New Mexico.

I know it didn't quite fit, but I couldn't resist putting in that line from the Incredibles about 'greater good'. Saw it recently on Disney and that is one of my all-time favorite lines.

And don't worry, Sharpay and Troy will figure things out ... eventually.

As seen on a real t-shirt: Sometimes when I'm alone, I Google myself.


	7. The Meeting

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

_Previously..._

_Once she was alone, Sharpay finally broke down. And as she cried her heart out for her dead boyfriend, her lost daughter, and now her lost lover, she felt strangely proud that she'd been able to put up such a strong public front. And she'd never felt more miserable and helpless in her entire life._

**Chapter 7: The Meeting**

"Ms. Evans, Troy, so kind of you come", Gabriella said as she graciously bade them enter her home.

"Please... Call me Sharpay", Sharpay told her as Gabriella led them into the formal living room in the modest brick ranch. Curiously enough, neither the house or the furnishing appeared southwestern. The room was much more English looking with winged back chairs and Queen Anne styled tables.

"Certainly, Sharpay. You're a little early, so ..."

"Sorry", came Troy's mumbled apology. This was the first thing he'd said since he picked Sharpay up at her house. Even though he wasn't sure where he stood with her or even where he wanted to stand, he did spend two hours last night cleaning and vacuuming out his car. He justified this by thinking it was as much cleaning therapy as it was trying not to embarrass himself with his normally trashed car.

"Oh no, it's fine. It gives us time to get acquainted before Katie gets home. Would you like some coffee?", Gabriella offered as she pointed out an ornate silver glass coffee carafe sitting in the center of the oval coffee table.

"That'd be nice, Gabi. Thanks", Troy said as he chose a seat as far away from Sharpay as possible.

"You have a lovely home", Sharpay told Gabriella as she accepted her coffee cup and sat down on the richly upholstered Queen Anne love seat. "I love English furnishings."

"Oh, I do too", Gabriella replied as she passed Troy his drink. "Although... I have to confess that most of this stuff came from Jeremy's mother. She passed away five years ago and we inherited it. We'd never be able to afford these things on our own."

Troy took a sip of his coffee and commented, "Yeah, I gotta say, Gabi; I'm surprised at your job. I always saw you at a scientist or engineer or doctor or something." Realizing how that sounded, he quickly backpedaled, "Not that there's anything wrong with being a social worker, of course."

"It's okay. Please, don't apologize", she said, laughing. "Actually, my original major was Chemistry-Premed. I always wanted to be a physician, but then I took an elective in Sociology which required volunteer work in the Child Welfare Office. Then I became involved with the investigation into that adoption agency. Let's just say that a certain little curly haired beauty stole my heart and before I knew it, I'd changed my major to Sociology and Childhood Development and was interned with the Welfare Office full time." Turning to Sharpay, she added, "You could say that Katie changed the direction of my life."

Sharpay showed little or no reaction to what Gabriella said and asked, coolly, "So how do we handle things when my daughter arrives?"

"Um, well, Katie knows that we aren't her natural parents, but..."

"You didn't tell her I'd be coming today, did you?" Sharpay's voice had a definite edge to it.

"Not exactly. We... Jeremy and I ... decided to wait ... see how things went, you know? So we'd really appreciate it if you..."

"Don't say anything to her", Sharpay finished the sentence for her and crossed her arms defensively over her chest and slumped back into her chair.

"Please... at least at this first meeting." Gabriella looked at her with pleading eyes.

Sharpay said nothing, but continued her protective posturing.

"When will she get here, anyway?", Troy said to break the tension.

Gabriella glanced down at her watch. "Oh, anytime now. She gets off the bus near the elementary school and then, picks up her little brothers and walks them home."

"Brothers? You foster other children?", Troy asked.

"Oh no, Drake and Henry are my natural children. They're six and eight and let me tell you, they worship the ground Katie walks on", Gabriella finished with a grin.

There followed a long, awkward silence until Gabriella broke it when she said thoughtfully to Sharpay, "You know, I think I remember you."

Sharpay arched an eyebrow in surprise, "You remember me from school?"

"No, not exactly. I know this sounds crazy but, I think I remember you from the prom."

Sharpay was dressed splendidly in full 'Sharpay' regalia today, much as she'd looked on the first day Troy had met her. She was wearing a black cotton tank top over a leopard print bra which showed itself just enough to make it interesting. A matching leopard print patent leather belt broke up the black of the linen Gucci skirt. She accented the outfit with studded leather and brass bracelets. Troy decided it was all part of her battle armor and trying to disassociate herself from any emotional connections she might make. God, she was infuriating.

Sharpay sucked in a breath. "Yes, I was there ... for awhile, anyway. It was going to be our big night, you know. Zeke and I were going to come out in the open about our relationship." Then, she giggled a little, in spite of the serious subject. "Ryan was going to come out in the open about his relationship, too. He and Bryce were dressed in matching tuxs. They looked so cute, like the top of a gay wedding cake..." Her smiled faded when she added, "but everything went to hell, very quickly."

"Taylor told me about Zeke. I'm very sorry", Gabriella sighed deeply before continuing, "That night got cut short for all of us. Mr. Matsui made the announcement about the accident and it felt like my whole world came crashing down around me. He told us they medevacced Troy and Chad to University Hospital, so Taylor and I rushed over as quickly as we could, prom dresses and all."

"Me too", Sharpay said in a voice almost too quiet to hear.

"Really? I don't remember you there."

"Well, I came ... for Zeke and when I found out he was ... gone... well, I sort of became a patient myself."

"What happened?" This earnest question came from Troy.

"I fainted in the ER after hearing the news", she explained nonchalantly. "Woke up thirty minutes later with Ryan and my parents staring down at me. That's how I found out I was pregnant."

"Damn." This was from Troy again.

Sharpay looked over at Troy and he thought he saw the armor crack a bit, but suddenly, they were all drawn to the loud sound of the front door slamming and children's voices raised in obvious anger in the foyer.

"Nana-nana boo boo! You can't catch me!", shouted a small dark-haired boy as he ran through the living room and disappeared down the hall. He was followed quickly by a quieter, younger boy.

Closely on their heels was a perturbed looking teenaged girl. "Come back here, you stupid little..."

Gabriella was on her feet and across the room in seconds with an embarrassed look on her face as she hissed to the girl. "Katie! Please! We have guests."

"But, Mooom. You didn't hear what Dufus said", whined the girl in a startlingly familiar voice. Troy looked immediately to Sharpay to see her reaction. However, just as it was difficult to recognize your own voice in a recording, she seemed to not notice the similarity.

"Your brother's name is Drake and we'll talk about it later. Please, come meet our company", Gabriella told her as she lead her back into the living room.

"But..."

"No buts, Katie."

They came fully into the room and Troy and Sharpay got their first good look at Katie. She was taller than Sharpay, probably from Zeke's side of the family and was wearing a pink mini-skirt, white tank top and pink high-top sneakers, which were the current craze among middle schoolers. Surprisingly, her skin was no darker than Gabriella's, but it had a bronzed tone to it that Troy knew women paid dearly to achieve cosmetically. Katie's hair was naturally curling in soft, loose ringlets and she had it held back with a pink polka-dotted hair band. Her eyes were an exact clone of Sharpay's in both shape and color -- a milk chocolate brown, but Troy could definitely see Zeke's contribution in the shape of face. Her forehead was slightly high and her lips were full, but it was when she smiled that Troy saw his old friend the most. Her smile had Zeke's innocence; the innocence that had made Troy and the other members of the basketball team want to protect him from the world.

"Katie, this is Troy Bolton. We went to high school together", Gabriella said smoothly as if she'd been practicing it.

"Hi", Katie replied shyly.

Troy nodded cordially.

"And this", continued Gabriella, "is..."

"Oh my God! You're Sharpay Evans!", squealed Katie before Gabriella could finish the introduction. "In my house! I can't believe this." She immediately pulled out her cell phone and started madly typing away.

"Katie, now is not the time to text your friends", Gabriella said sternly.

"But... yeah, you're right. I'm sorry Ms. Evans. I'm just so excited that you're here." Then, Katie turned to Gabriella and asked, "Mom, what is Sharpay Evans doing in my living room?"

Sharpay, who had remained silent during this entire exchange, spoke up, as Troy crossed his fingers. "I'm going to be the celebrity spokesperson for a campaign your mother is spearheading regarding child welfare in New Mexico." Sharpay spoke the lines as smoothly as if she'd rehearsed them for hours, which Troy knew was impossible.

"Wow, you're working with my mom."

"Yes, she does wonderful work and you should be very proud of her, Sharpay said sincerely as she gave Gabriella a small smile.

Still star struck, it took Katie a few seconds to reply. "What? Oh yeah, we're very proud of her. She works really hard, ya know? But you! I think I need to sit down." She plopped down in the chair closest to Sharpay.

In an effort to bring her daughter back to earth, Gabriella intervened. "Katie, how was school today?"

Once again, a delay. "Wha? Oh, Mom!", Katie replied with enthusiasm as she remembered her big news. "I almost forgot. I got the lead. Jake and I rock in this one. It's going to be such fun. It's an old play so you might have heard of it, Mom." She said this is a tone which implied Gabriella didn't have a huge knowledge of the theater. "It's Chicago. I got the part of Roxie."

A crack. Troy definitely saw a crack. Sharpay was still smiling sweetly at the girl, but she had paled considerably and he noticed that the hand which held her coffee cup had started to tremble.

"Wow, you're in drama?", Troy asked, mostly to give Sharpay cover, so she could regain her composure.

Katie turned to Troy in momentary confusion, as if she'd forgotten he was there. "Yes sir, normally, they'd never give a part like Roxie to a middle schooler, but the high school drama teacher says I'm a natural." She flashed that Zeke smile with those twinkling Sharpay eyes. The girl certainly was a natural.

Abruptly, Sharpay rose and turned to Gabriella, "I've seen enough."

"You're leaving?", asked a worried Gabriella.

"You're leaving?", asked a brokenhearted Katie. "Couldn't you wait until I call some of my friends? They could be here in minutes ... seconds, even."

Sharpay smiled tenderly to her daughter. "I'm afraid not, Katie. I must be going, but it was nice to finally meet you."

"You too, Ms. Evans. I'm your biggest fan", Katie gushed as she held her hands together as if to worship at the altar of Sharpay.

Sharpay nodded to the girl and turned to Troy, silently indicating that he should follow her. Troy looked over at the worried look on Gabriella's face and knew it matched the one on his own face.

"We'll talk soon ... about the project, Gabi", Sharpay said graciously at the door before they departed.

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

The silence hung like a shroud during the entire drive back to Sharpay's house. When Troy pulled to a stop in the circular drive in front of the enormous house, Sharpay turned to him, stoically.

"I have one final task for you before our association comes to an end, Troy. I'll be meeting with my lawyers this evening and I'll need you to deliver the paperwork to Gabriella tomorrow morning. I think waiting would be a mistake."

"Damn!", Troy exclaimed as he slammed his fist into the steering wheel. "You said you wouldn't take her away and now that's exactly what you're doing. You're going to take that girl away from the only family she's ever known. I knew I shouldn't have taken this case!"

Sharpay's eyes narrowed dangerously and she looked like she was about to say something, but instead she grabbed her Leopard print purse and opened the car door without a word. Troy couldn't let her get away with that, not without an explanation, so he jumped out of the car himself and caught her when she came around the hood on her way to the front door.

"You can't just walk away! It's your big scene, Sharpay! Don't you want to play it to the hilt?", he taunted as he grabbed her arm to stop her just as her foot hit the first step.

She easily shook off his hand and whirled to face him.

"You are the most aggravating, irritating, insolent, pompous, ...", Sharpay paused as she seemed to have run out of insults. Then, she stomped her feet in frustration and squealed in anger, "Oh, you ass!"

"Why are you yelling at me?!", Troy shouted back at her. "I'm not the one trying to break up a happy family."

"Oh yeah?" Well, neither am I!"

Their chests were heaving at the effort of their verbal melee. And an awkward stillness filled the air while Troy digested what Sharpay just told him. Sharpay glared at him knowingly.

"So, what exactly are we talking about?", Troy asked in confusion.

"You. Stupid. Jerk", Sharpay said, but her tone wasn't nearly as biting as previously. "I'm meeting with my lawyers so that I can terminate my parental rights." Her eyes were shining with unshed tears as she resumed, "Then, Gabriella and her husband can finally adopt Katie."

Troy stood there with a completely stunned expression on his face. He couldn't believe it. He had completely misread the clues on this one. And now he really did feel like a stupid jerk. She's the best thing that's happened to him since...ever and he almost let it all end.

Sharpay turned squarely to face Troy as she said incisively, "So, you gonna say anything else?"

Troy bit back, matching her aggressiveness, "Yes! You are the most aggravating, irritating, insolent, pompous... and wonderful person that I've ever met." He reached out and held her shoulders in his hands as his tone softened and he said, quietly, "And _I am_ an ass. And I want to apologize for being that ass and ask you to please give me another chance because _you_ are the best thing to ever happen to me and I'm not going to let you walk out of my life."

She smiled subduedly up at him as she whispered, "You promise never to hurt me?"

"Never in a million years."

**TBC**

I honestly can't believe myself, but I'm actually writing a 'nice' Gabriella. Imagine that!

Hey, I got the description of Sharpay's clothes from that Elle magazine photo shoot I mentioned in the notes of chapter 5. I'm terrible at this sort of stuff so I need all the help I can get.

Hey, everyone! Somebody took my challenge about the Elle magazine pics. So go now (after you leave a review here, of course) and read **Internal Desire by giantzacface**. It's very dark and gritty.


	8. Epilogue: Five Years Later

**Detecting Past Truths**

_A High School Musical Fanfiction_

**Epilogue: Five Years Later**

Gabriella was just getting the turkey out of the oven when the door bell rang. She quickly placed the twenty pound bird on the counter when she heard Chad call out from the living room.

"I'll get it!"

"Thanks!", she called back.

She turned around and removed her apron just as Sharpay walked into the kitchen carrying a pie pan in each hand.

"Happy Thanksgiving", she said genially. "Where do you want me to put the pies?"

"Oooo, those look great, but I told you not to bother. You're way too busy these days to worry with baking pies."

"It was really no trouble. Pecan pie is my specialty and mincemeat just requires opening a can."

"Well, just put them on the sideboard. And you're right on time; I'm just letting the turkey cool and we'll be ready. Where's Troy?"

"He'll be right in."

"_Where is she?_", called an excited voice from the sunroom. Taylor entered the kitchen and rushed over to envelop Sharpay in a warm hug. "You look so good; I could scratch your eyes out. It took me..."

"...two years to get my figure back, yada yada", joked Sharpay as they ended the hug. "I was there, remember? It did **not** take two years, Taylor. You were looking great before Corbin was even crawling."

"Well, you know I really don't give a darn about talking to you. Where. Is. Olivia?"

"Troy should be in any second. Chad went to help him." Then, Sharpay turned back to Gabriella and asked, "Where's everyone else?"

Gabriella answered the question casually, but it was obvious for whom Sharpay was really asking. "Oh, Jeremy's gone to pick up another bag of ice and the kids are in the backyard destroying the pile of leaves that poor Jeremy spent the morning raking up. Katie's keeping an eye on them."

"Do you mind...?", Sharpay inquired quietly as she motioned her head towards the back door.

"Not at all. We've got everything under control. Right, Tay?"

"You betcha. Once the ice gets here, we're ready to rock this bird", Taylor replied with a grin.

Sharpay paused on her way out the door. "You need more girl time, girlfriend. You're sounding more and more like Chad everyday. And it's disturbing."

Gabriella nodded silently in agreement.

"They've really come a long way, haven't they?", Taylor asked while motioning towards the door Sharpay just exited.

Gabriella started taking out plates for the buffet they were setting up around the kitchen island.

"Oh my, yes. There was a time when I really didn't think we'd be here."

"Amen to that."

Suddenly, a loud door slam, followed by Chad's bellowing complaints echoed into the house.

"What do you have in here anyway, man? Bricks?"

"It's just all the stuff that you need for a baby, Chad", answered Troy voice. "You should know all about that, _Super Dad_."

"Hey, I hardly ever wear that shirt anymore", Chad replied with a slight pout in his voice.

Gabriella and Taylor looked at each other in anticipation and then, simultaneously squeal, "Baby!"

They both go flying into the living room in search of their prize.

"Where is that precious baby girl?", Taylor cooed in her very best faux baby voice.

Troy who was still holding the baby carrier straightened up proudly, but then a small frown came over his face. "She's right here, but you might not think she's so precious right now."

Then, he held the carrier, baby and all, up to his face and said in _his _best faux baby voice, "I dink you did a wuttle stinky, didn't you sweetie? What do you say? Where's Mommy?"

The two month old baby was snuggled comfortable in her Eddie Bauer infant carrier and rewarded her father's silly dialog by grinning brightly and blowing bubbles while she cooed back at him. Olivia had huge amounts of hair for a two month old and it was put into two tiny blond pig tales, high on her head. Her eyes were still that newborn dark blue color and her chubby little cheeks announced to the world, "My mommy nurses me!"

"Don't you dare, Troy Bolton", admonished Gabriella. "We haven't forgotten how to change a diaper and we'd be glad to help out. Right, Tay?"

"Of course. Where's her diaper bag?", asked Taylor.

"I don't know about a diaper bag, but here's her overnight bag, gym bag and school backpack all rolled into one." Chad handed over the Bolton's Juicy Couture baby bag by hefting it up with an exaggerated sigh, as if it weighed 50 pounds.

"Oh, Chad", Taylor reprimanded her husband, "It can't possible be that heavy." She accepted the bag while Gabriella lifted the baby out of the carrier. "Omf, I take that back, honey. What _is _in this bag? That baby's only two months old. She's not even eating solids yet."

"Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Livie. They're just jealous is all. Yes, they are. They wish they could afford a Juicy Couture bag for themselves, isn't that right?" That earned Gabriella a smile as she continued her baby babble while she carried little Olivia Bolton down the hall.

Once they were alone, Chad turned to Troy. "So what is in that bag, anyway?"

"Chad, just lay off the bag, okay?"

Chad held up his hands, palms out. "Alright, alright. Let's change the subject... so... are things back to normal between you and Sharpay yet?"

"Uh?", Troy asked as they both took a seat.

"You know", Chad winked. "Back. to. normal."

"Oh", Troy exclaimed when he finally got it. "That's none of your business ...". Then Troy beamed a big smile back at his life-long friend and added, "But yeah, things are _way_ better than _normal_."

They, of course, were talking about one of the two things that all men always talk about when they're together: sex and sports. And since Sharpay cared absolutely nothing about sports...

"I know what you mean. Absence makes the heart (and other things) grow fonder."

Just then, they heard the back door open and Jeremy call out that he was back with the ice.

"Hey man, how are you?", Jeremy said as walked into the room with a bottle of beer in his hand. "You guys want one?"

"Heck, yeah", confirmed Chad.

After Jeremy retrieved beer for the other two, he rejoined them. "So Chad, I read your final piece in that series of articles you did about corruption in the county housing system. Great body of work. One of your best."

"Thanks, man. And to think I owe it all to Vance Evans. Actually, our whole family owes Vance Evans. I wrote the article and Taylor prosecuted the case. Yep, that man single-handedly started Corbin on his college fund. We both got raises because of that man."

"Well, it was a good thing you did, really. And how about you Troy? In five years you've shifted your focus from cheating spouses to missing persons. That's got to be much more gratifying."

"Yeah, it is... as long the missing person isn't a cheating spouse. That's happened more than once, but Sharpay has an inner sense when it comes to these things and she usually steers us away from those cases."

"No offense man, but I can't believe she gave up Hollywood for you", Chad commented as he took a swig of his beer.

"She didn't exactly give it up, Chad. She still does an occasional charity concert and she's signed on to do a movie next summer. All three of us will go with her to film on location in France."

"Sounds like a lot of babysitting to me."

"Sounds like a loving husband to me", Taylor said as she reenter the room with the diaper bag in one hand and an oblong plastic device in the other.

Then, Gabriella came twirling into the room with little Olivia giggling like mad.

"Troy, why, exactly, do you carry an ear thermometer in your diaper bag?" She is holding up a rather large digital ear thermometer.

"In case Olivia gets sick. We need to be able to tell, right?"

"Oh, then that also explains the baby Tylenol, baby Motrin, mylicon drops, baby Dimetapp, baby Benadryl (both liquid and ointment), bulb syringe, saline drops, antibiotic ointment, bandaids, gauze bandages, temporary splint, triangle bandage, SPF 100 sunscreen, and finally, a tooth repair kit. Does the child even have any teeth yet?"

"Well, no, but it never hurts to be prepared."

"Not to mention...", contributes Gabriella, "the four complete sets of designer baby clothes, the Gymboree blankets (two of them) and the Baby Banz sunglasses."

Troy sat up a little straighter. "Now, _those _were Sharpay's ideas. I told her she had too many clothes in there."

**:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:**

Sharpay quietly walked into the backyard and immediately saw Katie sitting in one of the two swings on the set while the boys, her two brothers and Taylor and Chad's son, five year old Corbin, played in the leaf pile. They were currently searching for any unsuspecting worms hidden in the leaves that they could torment.

"Hi, Katie. How are you?", Sharpay said quietly.

"Oh, hi, Sharpay. I'm fine. Isn't it a beautiful day?", Katie replied.

"Yes, it certainly is."

Sharpay took the other swing and they stayed that way in companionable silence for a while. Although logically Sharpay realized that she couldn't take any credit for how Katie turned out, she still felt an inner sense of pride at what a fine young woman she was becoming. Katie had managed to grow at least three more inches since they'd become reacquainted five years ago. And now at almost 18, she towered over Sharpay at an even 5 feet, 9 inches. She had grown into that height with curves in all the right places, some more than others. Sharpay had no earthly idea where Katie got her chest, but it certainly wasn't from her. She started having her hair streaked during the summer and it was a great look for her and, although Sharpay would never admit it out loud, it made them look more alike. There was a time when Katie would have gone to almost any lengths to distance herself from her mother. This made Sharpay think back to five years ago.

A week after she signed away her parental rights, everyone, the adults, that is, decided it was time to tell Katie the truth. What sounded simple, wasn't. What should have been a joyous occasion of the adoption finally coming to fruition, wasn't. What it was, was many hours of teenage, hormone-driven screaming and shouting left with no resolution and only sad outlooks for the future. To say that Katie didn't take the news well would be the understatement of the century. Words like "lies", "abandoned", "not wanted", "a mistake" were followed by even harsher language which culminated in "I hate all of you." This epiphany was directed at Sharpay_ and,_ Gabriella and Jeremy. Of course, it actually made no sense for Katie to take this out on adopted parents, but Katie was a teenaged girl and they aren't known for their logic.

Then, she reserved the most cutting blow of all for Sharpay. Katie turned on her birth mother and spit out, "I thought you were dead. That's the only thing that made sense to me. Why else would someone gift me up only to have me trapped in this foster care limbo? Where the people who actually do love me aren't allowed to legally adopt me? Well, you know what? I wish you really were dead!"

Surprisingly, Troy was the only one with whom she would speak. Katie thought of him as an outside party since he wasn't one of her three parents. He took Katie out to local park so they could talk alone. There he told her all about her dad, Zeke, and what a truly great guy he was. Troy assured her that if Zeke hadn't died, the three of them would have been a fantastic family. And Sharpay really wasn't to blame. She was an 18 year old girl, alone in the world, and she did what she thought was best for Katie. No one had any idea things would turn out the way they did.

Maybe it was what Troy said or how he said it or his eloquence or maybe, just maybe, even 13 year old girls aren't immune to those striking blue eyes. Whatever it was, Katie agreed to come back to the house and talk to everyone (without screaming). She did. It started out slowly, but gradually over the next few months she and Sharpay got to know each other and actually got to like each other. Sharpay would never replace Gabriella in Katie's eyes and Sharpay didn't want to. She understood that the time for that had well passed.

"So, have you given any more thought on where you want to go to college?", Sharpay asked casually. She really wanted Katie to go to Juliard since that was, at one time, her own dream, but the girl had a mind of her own.

The lights came on in Katie's eyes when she turned to Sharpay and said, "Oh yes, I'm absolutely sure this time. I know I said some things about drama, but really, Sharpay, I'm not nearly as gifted as you are." She paused for a second to ready the moment. "Okay, here it is. I want to go to culinary school."

The expression on Sharpay's face never wavered, but her heart hit rock bottom. "Really?", she said in disbelief.

"Yes, it's something I've been messing around with secretly for a few years now. I just love to bake! In fact I have an appointment for an interview with the The French Culinary Institute in New York City next week." Then, her face inexplicably fell.

Sharpay reached an comforting hand over and touched her shoulder. "What's wrong, baby?"

"Well, Dad's traveling to California next week and Mom has this really big meeting up in Sante Fe on Wednesday, so I probably won't be able to go."

"I'll go with you" was out of Sharpay's mouth in a heartbeat. "That is, if you don't mind that Olivia goes with us. We're sort of attached right now", she said with a shrug.

Katie looked stunned. "Really? That'd be great, but I'm surprised. I-I mean, not that you aren't great or anything, but I know how important it was to you for me to pursue something in the performing arts. I'm surprised you're giving me this kind of support because, to tell the truth, Mom and Dad aren't. You see", she took a deep breath and a dreamy look came over her, "I have this dream to make the world's most perfect crème brûlée. Have you ever had that?"

Sharpay turned her head away to hide the tears shining in her eyes. Even after all these years...

She managed to choke out, "Yeah, yeah, I have; it's one of my favorites."

"Are you okay, Sharpay? You sound odd."

Sharpay stood up and blinked away the tears before turning back to her daughter. "I'm fine, Katie." Sharpay managed a weak smile.

Katie hopped off the swing and ran over to Sharpay. "Great! Maybe I could make some after dinner. Would you like that?"

"I'd love that. Thank you." Her smile was genuine.

She took Katie's hand and they started to walk towards the house just as Troy opened to door to call everyone into dinner. He noticed immediately that something was distressing his wife, so he gently guided her off to the side while the others entered the house.

"You okay, babe?", he asked with concern.

"I'll be fine in a minute. You won't believe it, Troy. It's that whole nature/nurture thing." Troy handed her a handkerchief and she dabbed at her eyes without smearing her makeup.

"Uh? You lost me, Sharpay."

"It's Katie. S-she wants to be a chef. And you won't believe what her specialty is", she choked out. Her tears were definitely a combination of post-pregnancy hormones and deep seated memories. Sharpay still didn't allow herself to become overly emotion in public.

Troy remembered very clearly the day that Zeke confessed his deepest and darkest secret to his two best friends. He was a closet chef. Zeke loved to bake and his favorite dish was...

"Crème brûlée?"

"Yeah...", she said sadly. "Zeke gave me a dish of it the night he gave me the ring." Sharpay involuntarily looked down at her left hand where her promise ring sat for 14 years. Now, her wedding ring and the diamond solitaire that Troy gave her for their engagement was on that finger. She suddenly looked up guiltily when she realized what she was doing.

Troy reached over and took her hand. "Don't worry about Shar. You loved Zeke for a long time. I don't expect you to just forget about him. I know you love me now."

"You know I'm not really sure if I loved him or I loved the memory of him. We had such a short time together." She sighed and looked towards the door. "But I do know this... I love you and Olivia with every fiber of my being and that's never going to change."

Troy beamed down at her and gave her hand a squeeze. "Come on, babe. They're waiting for us."

"Our whole life is waiting for us."

**The End**

That's all, folks! Hope you liked it. If you've been waiting to review until the end... well, this is it. Please take the time to push that little button.

I know some of you may be disappointed that Sharpay didn't 'get' Katie, but she's not a possession to be fought over and it just wouldn't have been right.

Hey, there's another one-shot based on those Elle pics. This one's called "The Fence" by secretcastle. Go check it out. It's great, just like all her stories.


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